May 20

Apps tackle travel expenses

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Recording travel expenses, in the shape of bills and receipts, can be one of the most frustrating aspects of doing business on the road. A number of gadgets aim to simplify this chore. The Planon Slimscan (pictured) is a credit card-sized scanner.Recording travel expenses, in the shape of bills and receipts, can be one of the most frustrating aspects of doing business on the road. A number of gadgets aim to simplify this chore. The Planon Slimscan (pictured) is a credit card-sized scanner.
The Epson WorkForce DS-30 is a lightweight portable scanner that can digitize and capture the contents of large pieces of paper. The Epson WorkForce DS-30 is a lightweight portable scanner that can digitize and capture the contents of large pieces of paper.
The NeatReceipts scanner aims to go one further by digitally recording vouchers and receipts on a computer database.The NeatReceipts scanner aims to go one further by digitally recording vouchers and receipts on a computer database.
Smartphone apps like Concur (pictured) meanwhile enable users to log and record their expenses before submitting them to their company's accounting department.

Smartphone apps like Concur (pictured) meanwhile enable users to log and record their expenses before submitting them to their company’s accounting department.

A screen shot of the ExpenseMagic app. This enables users to input their expenses data by taking a photograph of a receipt or bill before sending it to an external team of accountants who process the information.

A screen shot of the ExpenseMagic app. This enables users to input their expenses data by taking a photograph of a receipt or bill before sending it to an external team of accountants who process the information.

  • Recording traveling expenses on business trips can be time consuming
  • Numerous devices have come onto the market in recent years that aim to simplify this process
  • Scanners and smartphone apps are the main products driving these developments

Editor’s note: Business Traveller is a monthly show about making the most of doing business on the road.

(CNN) — Recording traveling expenses can be one the most frustrating aspects of the business traveler’s busy life on the road. Restaurant bills, train tickets, hotel receipts; they all have to be accurately accounted for.

This can be a time consuming chore, but an array of high-tech devices have hit the market with the aim of simplifying the process.

According to Duncan Bell, operations editor of tech magazine T3, receipt scanners and, to a greater extent, smartphone apps, are the main drivers of these developments.

“Technology has made quite major changes in terms of how people do their expenses — particularly in larger companies,” Bell says.

Technology has made quite major changes in terms of how people do their expenses – particularly in larger companies.
Duncan Bell, operations editor T3

“Whereas before it was inevitably hand written, and then later typed into a spreadsheet, which involved bringing expenses into the office, now it can be done on the fly on a variety of different technologies,” he adds.

Bell took a look at some of the most prominent products that are streamlining the expenses process.

Planon Slimscan

The Planon Slimscan is a pocket-sized scanner that enables users to record small receipts, business cards and all manner of other expenses-related paperwork.

It’s a device that looks “impressive” and is easy to carry around, says Bell.

Given its diminutive size, however, the Planon Slimscan is unable to scan larger items of paperwork, such as hotel or taxi receipts, he adds.

“They’re not actually physically wide enough to actually scan them (larger paperwork) in,” Bell says.

Taking the pain out of doing expenses

“(It’s) something that you produce with a flourish from your wallet … but is overshadowed by the usability element,” he concludes.

See also: Higher air fares, more mergers?

Epson WorkForce DS-30

A much larger device that aims to cater for receipts both large and small is the Epson WorkForce DS-30.

This portable scanner is still relatively lightweight but definitely something you would “put in your luggage rather than your wallet,” says Bell.

The extra bulk and size enables users to digitize larger pieces of paper up to A4 size. According to Bell, however, recording small receipts and most “expenses-related things” doesn’t require such high quality or precision technology.

“They are nice pieces of hardware, but maybe not the perfect solution for (recording expenses),” he says.

NeatReceipts scanner

The NeatReceipts scanner is a slim and lightweight device that its makers say can scan receipts, business cards and documents of all sizes to produce electronic files that are stored in a “digital filing cabinet.”

Despite overcoming the difficulties posed by documents of differing dimensions, Bell says NeatReceipts isn’t as efficient as it could be.

If you are expecting this to do your accounts for you — well it ain’t — but it will help.
Duncan Bell, operations editor T3

He describes the technology as similar to the prospect of flying cars — “a nice idea but (one that) never actually quite works” — because of the scanner’s propensity to misread entries on receipts.

“You have to think of it more as a means of scanning the receipt and then you changing the various mistakes,” he adds. “If you are expecting this to do your accounts for you — well it ain’t — but it will help.”

Concur

The Concur app is one of the many smartphone software programs now on the market. Bell says apps will likely be the future of expense-recording devices.

“They basically do the same job as scanner-based solutions … and (are) capable of putting (expenses) in a format that is useable by your accounts department,” he explains.

Concur itself enables users to photograph, record and collate invoices via an easy-to-use interface. According to Bell, it doesn’t try anything too clever and provides a simple system for digitally capturing and filing data that can then be passed onto accounting departments to process.

Even if accounts don’t accept digitized images of receipts, “the scans mean you’re not struggling to remember which taxi fare cost what when you come to fill in your expenses,” he adds.

ExpenseMagic

Another useful smartphone application for the tech-savvy business traveler is ExpenseMagic, says Bell.

“What ExpenseMagic does is use the hardware of your phone and an app to photograph receipts and enter various bits of information — but the main body of the work is done by an actual living person.”

“They have a team of accountants who will go though your photographed receipts and turn it into a form suitable for use by your accounts department.”

This takes away much of the stress of recording and sifting through mountains of crumpled up pieces of paper, explains Bell.

“The downside of this is obviously they are not doing this out of the good of their hearts, so there is a subscription cost that needs to be borne,” he adds.

Perhaps that’s another cost to add to your travel expenses.

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May 20

Insight: S. Africa’s first black dean

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South Africa’s outspoken educator

  • Professor Jonathan Jansen is one of South Africa’s top academics
  • He is the rector of the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein
  • Jansen is passionate about teaching his moral code: reconciliation over retribution
  • He is also an author, columnist and the president of the South African Institute of Race Relations

Editor’s note: African Voices is a weekly show that highlights Africa’s most engaging personalities, exploring the lives and passions of people who rarely open themselves up to the camera.

Bloemfontein, South Africa (CNN) — It’s graduation day and professor Jonathan Jansen strolls around the campus of the University of the Free State. Every now and then he stops to greet his gown-clad students, standing out amid a crowd of beaming parents and proudly grinning teachers.

As rector of the formerly all-white educational institution in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Jansen is about to use his graduation ceremony speech to teach his students one last lesson.

“I urge you, in a country where there’s still a lot of rage, never respond by rage, respond through reason and you will have gotten not just a degree, but an education,” says Jansen, looking into the eyes of his students.

Jansen, the first black dean of education at the University of the Free State, is one of South Africa’s leading academics and intellectuals.

Throughout his long and esteemed educational career, which has taken him from teaching biology in high school classrooms to leading one of South Africa’s premier learning institutions, Jansen has been doing everything he can to keep education uppermost in the minds of his students.

“The way out of poverty is through learning and those basic values I have carried with me throughout my leadership,” says Jansen, who is not only an academic but has a wider audience as author, newspaper columnist and the president of the South African Institute of Race Relations.

Read more: Oprah a ‘proud momma’ as first Academy students graduate

Teaching ‘reconciliation over retribution’

The son of a preacher, Jansen was born in Cape Flats, a violent, gang-infested area on the fringes of Cape Town. Life was tough for the future educator, coming of age in a country plagued by apartheid — he says that growing up as a black boy in Cape Flats, there was a “greater chance” of going to prison than going to university.

Recognizing South Africa’s students

But despite the disadvantages of his surroundings, Jansen believes he thrived, thanks largely to the example set by his parents — he described them as “Old Testament figures — my father being Abraham, my mother being Sarah.”

“Here you had parents that raised you in a bubble of decency, of this is what you do and don’t do, this is the direction out of poverty,” he says.

Even though his parents’ families were both materially dispossessed under Apartheid, Jansen says his father and mother raised their children with a strong sense of not being bitter, of being generous to those who are poor and of living a life “without respect for color.”

“That helped us enormously,” he says, “so as I looked outside I could see people killing each other, I witnessed the rape of women, I saw horrible things happening around me, but it was as if it did not happen because in this bubble that Abraham and Sarah raised us, there was an understanding of yourself that was unshakeable — central to that was education.”

Passionate about the transformative power of knowledge, Jansen holds strong opinions about the state of education in South Africa.

He argues that years of maladministration left the country with a failing state education system. He is also regularly heard lambasting the country’s low teaching standards, which allow students in some cases to pass exams with as little as 30%.

The way out of poverty is through learning and those basic values have carried with me throughout my leadership.
Professor Jonathan Jansen

“It’s odd for me because it’s like we don’t get it that in a modern interconnected economy you better be up there playing with the best,” he says. “I take this to be another symptom of how we’ve succumbed to the apartheid message that we can’t, that we’re inferior, that we need to beg for participation and that does much more damage than any politician can imagine.”

Read more: Elite boarding school aims to create Africa’s future leaders

A firm believer of the society’s responsibility to insist on a qualitative education system, Jansen, a Fulbright scholar, assumed his current role at the University of the Free State in 2009 after the institution faced controversy over racism and racial integration.

In 2008, a video surfaced of four white students at the university urging at least five black housekeepers to eat what appeared to be urine-tainted beef stew. The incident sparked national outcry and shed light over South Africa’s racial integration problems.

Citing reconciliation “on a deeply divided campus,” Jansen decided to invite the students to return to the university and resume their studies, regardless of their legal consequences.

“We decided … to offer to the boys an institutional message of forgiveness and acceptance, that they could come back in and participate in a process of reconciliation with the people that they had hurt.”

The students were fined after pleading guilty to deliberately injuring another person’s dignity, but they rebuffed Jansen’s invitation to return to the university.

Jansen was roundly criticized for that gesture, which only served to contribute to his reputation for being outspoken.

“If in the process of forgiving and reconciling, we enable other transformations to take place, which is exactly what happened, then that is a better way to go than the thirst — the understandable thirst let me say — for vengeance,” he says.

Back at the graduation ceremony, Jansen’s moral code of reconciliation over retribution returns once again.

“I don’t care what else you’ve learned at the University of the Free State,” he tells the graduates, “but you know this is a university that in the world is regarded as a place that chooses reconciliation over revenge, that chooses compassion over striking back, that chooses mercy over retaliation.”

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May 20

On Greek economy, who will blink first?

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An EU flag flies in front of the Acropolis in Athens. A rerun of the Greek elections is scheduled for June 17.
An EU flag flies in front of the Acropolis in Athens. A rerun of the Greek elections is scheduled for June 17.

  • Heather A. Conley says the EU is on the brink over Greece’s economic crisis
  • If Greece doesn’t stick to its bailout terms, it may not receive further EU aid, she says
  • A great test of democracy is taking place in democracy’s birthplace, Conley says
  • Conley: Drama may conclude on June 17, when Greece’s electoral re-run is scheduled

Editor’s note: Heather A. Conley is director and senior fellow, Europe Program, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

(CNN) — Until the rerun of the Greek elections scheduled for June 17, we will witness an unprecedented game of brinkmanship. The game will be played along the following lines.

European political leaders will state unequivocally to the Greek electorate that it is time for them to make a stark choice: Vote for parties that will continue with the agreed reforms (the dreaded austerity) and stay within the European family or vote for parties opposed to the austerity measures and leave the euro and perhaps the European Union.

This clear and concise message was recently voiced by Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter. She declared that if Greece does not stick to the terms of its bailout program, it will not receive further aid from the EU or the International Monetary Fund.

“One cannot exit from the eurozone, one can only exit from the EU,” she said. She also noted that Greece would have to reapply for EU membership, with no guarantee of readmission.

CNNMoney: Greek banks strain for cash

Greek politicians, particularly Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, will probably respond to that message with a different one, which he will transmit back to Brussels, Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt (home of the European Central Bank): Europe cannot afford to let Greece fail and therefore, in the name of solidarity, Europe must continue to do whatever it takes to support Greece. But this time it should not require Greece to take such painful measures. Oh, and Europe will need to give Greece additional funds (in the name of “growth”) no matter what combination of political parties enters parliament and forms a new government.

Heather A. Conley

Sounding like a blackmailer, Tsipras has said, “The eurozone is not in danger because of Greek resistance, but because of the bankrupt policies of the memorandum, of yesterday’s political system”; “if the disease of austerity destroys Greece, it will spread to the rest of Europe”; and “the European leadership and especially Mrs. Merkel need to stop playing poker with the lives of people.”

Perhaps it is fitting that a great test of democracy is taking place in democracy’s birthplace.

So, who blinks first? In the past three days, we have seen two actors blink immediately: German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek and Spanish bank depositors.

The consummate political tactician, Merkel understood that with French President Francois Hollande’s electoral victory on Sunday, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s continued public pressure and her party’s recent electoral loss to the social democrats in the largest German state, the political winds were shifting at home and abroad on growth.

This week, Merkel confessed that she was in fact in favor of identifying additional growth measures when she said she was in a “high level of agreement” with Hollande. She noted that for “stimulus to be pursued for growth in the euro zone, which we could pursue in the interest of Greece, we’re open for this. Germany is open for this.” Of course, details and date of delivery of said growth remain a mystery.

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Greek and Spanish depositors were the second actor to blink when they removed approximately ?700 million (about $890 million U.S.) from Greek banks and ?1 billion (about $1.26 billion U.S.) from Spain’s third-largest and recently nationalized bank, Bankia.

Their actions were indicative of the fear that the game of chicken is getting out of hand. This sentiment was strengthened by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s decision to cut off certain Greek banks from receiving ECB funds and the IMF’s announcement, earlier Friday, that it would freeze contacts with Greece until the June 17 election.

The ultimate answer to “who blinks first” lies in understanding how this crisis has played out over the past two years.

The Greek bailout package has already been renegotiated twice, most recently in March of this year, to address deteriorating economic fundamentals and to force private bondholders to take losses. There have been no less than 17 European summits to “resolve” the crisis only to return to crisis shortly thereafter.

Three bailout packages (Greece, Ireland and Portugal); ?1.3 trillion ($1.65 trillion U.S.) in cheap, three-year loans to European banks; and a change in government in 10 out of the 17 eurozone countries — the art of the European muddle-through strategy has been perfected.

It is clear from Tuesday’s meeting between Merkel and Hollande that Europe will continue to actively pursue this muddle-through strategy until it is no longer able to pursue it.

The treaties, the summitry and the political volatility that define Europe are completely ill-equipped to handle the crisis as it enters a new and potentially determinate end state. Most important, the collateral damage that comes with muddling through for the past two years is taking a significant social and economic toll: Spanish unemployment is at almost 25%; Greek youth unemployment is at 51.5% and a third of the French electorate in the first round of its presidential elections voted for either an extreme left or right party. Is Europe willing to be home to a lost generation in the name of European solidarity?

No one knows how this brinkmanship will come to an end, or even if it will come to an end at all. And certainly no one knows whether it will result in economic Armageddon or a small blip on a trader’s computer screen. Actions or statements by either side are likely not to be conclusive.

It is more likely that a sudden, unanticipated shock created by either the markets or political actors before June 17 causes an unstoppable chain reaction. Should this be this outcome, in some way it may come as a relief as it is far easier to blame an event than to accept responsibility for Europe’s actions over the past two years.

This game of chicken is not unique to Europe. Washington had its own bout of brinkmanship last summer regarding the increase in America’s debt ceiling, and is likely to have it again in a few months. Europe has just upped the level of play.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Heather A. Conley.

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May 20

Should you go gluten-free?

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It?s not often that a serious medical condition sparks a dieting fad. Such is the case with the gluten-free craze. Sufferers of Celiac Disease, an autoimmune digestive disease, absolutely must avoid foods containing gluten, but somehow gluten-free has caught on with non-sufferers who think cutting out gluten will help them eat better or lose weight. It won?t necessarily do either, yet right now there are loads of gluten-free products being marketed to the general population that suggest they can. Even Domino?s Pizza is on the bandwagon with gluten-free pizza crust, although the company?s website cautions that it is not recommended for true Celiac suffers!

Perhaps you have been considered going gluten-free?  Before you stop eating breads, pastas and cereals let?s look at the facts about gluten, Celiac, gluten intolerance and gluten sensitivity.

What is Gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat that gives elasticity to dough, helping it to rise and keep its shape. Gluten is a combination of gliadin and glutenin, which is joined with starch in various grains. Gliadin is what enables bread to rise properly while glutenin is the major protein in wheat flour, making up 47 percent of the total protein content.

Celiac Disease
When people with Celiac Disease eat foods or use products containing gluten, their immune system responds by damaging the small intestine. The tiny, fingerlike protrusions lining the small intestine are damaged or destroyed. Called villi, they normally allow nutrients from food to be absorbed into the bloodstream. Without healthy villi, a person becomes malnourished, regardless of the quantity or quality of food eaten.

Recognizing Celiac Disease can be difficult because some of its symptoms mirror those of other diseases. In fact, sometimes Celiac Disease is confused with irritable bowel syndrome, iron-deficiency anemia caused by menstrual blood loss, Crohn?s disease, diverticulitis, intestinal infections, and chronic fatigue syndrome. As a result, Celiac Disease is commonly misdiagnosed.  According to National Digestive Diseases Clearinghouse, more than 2 million people in the United States are affected by Celiac disease, or roughly, 1 in every 133 people.

Symptoms
Early signs and symptoms of Celiac include: stomach pain, bloating, gas, decreased appetite, weight loss, intermittent or constant diarrhea, nausea and/or vomiting, and floating stools that are bloody or fatty in appearance.  Long-term symptoms include easy bruising, hair loss, missed menstrual periods, fatigue and joint pain, and dermatitis, or itchy skin.

Diagnosis
Often the results of a blood test help detect Celiac Disease. If a blood test comes back positive for the appropriate antibodies, an upper endoscopy may be performed to assess possible damage to the small intestine, more specifically the duodenum. If there is a flattening of the villi, those finger-like projections that absorb nutrients, the doctor or a registered dietitian will work with the patient to create a gluten-free diet. After a few months, the doctor may order another round of blood tests and endoscopy to evaluate the body?s response to the new diet. If the results are normal, it is confirmed that Celiac Disease is the cause. Genetic testing is also helpful for relatives of those with Celiac Disease, as the disease is hereditary and very common with first-degree relatives.

Long term damage from eating gluten with celiac disease
According to the American Celiac Disease Alliance, eating gluten can cause those with Celiac Disease to be malnourished. This is because the body cannot absorb vitamins and minerals from food and instead excretes them in the stool.  This can cause weight loss and vitamin deficiencies, which if severe enough can lead to stunted growth, neurological problems, and low bone density. Calcium and vitamin D are lost in the stool as well, which can lead to rickets in children (a type of kidney stone), as well as osteomalacia (softening of bones), osteopenia, and osteoporosis. Cancer, especially gastrointestinal cancer, has also been reported to occur in many cases of longstanding untreated celiac disease.   

Dietary restrictions
Sufferers of Celiac Disease cannot eat foods containing all-purpose flour; bleached flour; bran; bread crumbs; durum flour/wheat; enriched flour; farina; gluten; semolina; spelt; wheat bran; wheat germ; wheat starch; whole wheat flour; cornstarch; hydrolyzed vegetable protein; gelatinized starch; modified food starch; MSG.  Having eliminated these from the diet, gluten-free alternatives include rice flour/starch; potato flour/starch; oat flour/rolled oats; various ?gluten-free? products.

Gluten Intolerance and Gluten Sensitivity
Some people suffer from gluten intolerance, which is different than Celiac in that it is not an immune mediated response. The symptoms of gluten intolerance appear after eating wheat or other foods containing gluten, which can cause abdominal cramping, bloating, diarrhea and flatulence. Researchers are looking into whether gluten intolerance over a long period causes permanent intestinal damage.

More commonplace is gluten sensitivity, which affects approximately 18 million people in the United States and it is characterized by a less severe form of gluten intolerance. The gastrointestinal symptoms are similar to those with Celiac Disease, however gluten sensitivity does not cause damage to the intestinal lining.

Deciding to eat gluten-free?
Of course eating gluten free makes sense for anyone with Celiac Disease or a significant sensitivity to gluten. But for the majority of us who are not bothered by gluten, are there real benefits to banning foods containing gluten?  Not really. Just because a food product is billed as ?gluten-free? does not mean that it is healthier. Gluten-free products can be high in calories, fat, and carbohydrates.  Some people who go gluten-free actually gain weight. There?s probably no harm in cutting out gluten as long as you continue to eat a balanced diet. But unless you have medical reason to avoid foods containing gluten wouldn?t you prefer to stick with whole foods, which are likely to be cheaper, better tasting, more convenient and nutritious?

May is National Celiac Awareness Month. For more information about Celiac Disease and gluten-free eating visit the comprehensive website produced by the Celiac Disease Foundation.

Tanya Zuckerbrot MS, RD, is a nationally known registered dietitian based in New York and the creator of a proprietary high-fiber nutrition program for weight loss, wellness and for treating various medical conditions. Tanya authored the bestselling weight loss book The F-Factor Diet, and she is the first dietitian with a national line of high-fiber foods, which are sold under the F-Factor name. Become a fan of Tanya on Facebook, follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn, and visit her website Ffactor.com.

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May 20

G-8 Warns North Korea About Further Provocations

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NEW YORK ?  The Group of Eight world leaders has warned North Korea that it faces more sanctions if it continues to threaten the stability of the region with provocative acts such as its failed long-range rocket launch in April.

The U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Britain issued a declaration on the results of the two-day summit. It includes a statement about the G-8′s concerns over North Korea’s nuclear program, including its uranium enrichment program.

“We affirm our will to call on the UN Security Council to take action, in response to additional (North Korea) acts, including ballistic missile launches and nuclear tests,” the declaration reads.

North Korea’s state media didn’t immediately respond to the G-8′s warning.

The United Nations Security Council imposed sanctions against North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006 and stepped up sanctions after its second test in 2009, hoping to derail the country’s rogue nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.

North Korea earlier this month threatened to bolster its nuclear arsenal at any cost.

President Barak Obama said Saturday that world leaders also made progress at Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland on other international issues at the summit, including on Iran and Syria.

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May 20

4,700 potentially dangerous asteroids lurk near Earth, NASA says

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A new NASA survey has pinned down the number of asteroids that could pose a collision threat to Earth in what scientists say is the best estimate yet of the potentially dangerous space rocks.

The survey found there are likely 4,700 potentially hazardous asteroids, plus or minus 1,500 space rocks, that are larger than 330 feet (100 meters) wide and in orbits that occasionally bring them close enough to Earth to pose a concern, researchers said. To date, only about 30 percent of those objects have actually been found, they added.

Potentially hazardous asteroids, or PHAs in NASA-speak, are space rocks in orbits that come within 5 million miles (8 million kilometers) of Earth and are large enough to cause damage on regional or global scale if they were ever to hit our planet.

The new study was based on observations from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), an infrared space telescope. While the telescope data returned an estimate of the potentially dangerous near-Earth asteroid population that is similar to previous projections, it also revealed some surprising new results.

According to the survey, about twice as many asteroids are in so-called “lower-inclination orbits” ? which are more closely aligned with Earth’s path around the sun than other objects ? than previously thought researchers said. [Video: WISE Telescope's Asteroid Census]

“A possible explanation is that many of the PHAs may have originated from a collision between two asteroids in the main belt lying between Mars and Jupiter,” NASA officials explained in a statement. “A larger body with a low-inclination orbit may have broken up in the main belt, causing some of the fragments to drift into orbits closer to Earth and eventually become PHAs.”

Those low-inclination space rocks also appear to be smaller and brighter than other near-Earth asteroids and are more likely to encounter Earth, researchers said.

“Our team was surprised to find the overabundance of low-inclination PHAs,” Amy Mainzer, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. Mainzer is principal investigator of WISE’s asteroid-hunting mission, which is called NEOWISE.

“Because they will tend to make more close approaches to Earth, these targets can provide the best opportunities for the next generation of human and robotic exploration.”

Scientists made the new near-Earth asteroid estimate based on observations of 107 asteroids by WISE, which launched in 2009 and mapped the entire sky twice before ending its primary mission in 2011. Before shutting down, the observatory made a concerted search for near-Earth asteroids as part of an extended mission dubbed NEOWISE.

The $320 million WISE telescope snapped images of about 600 near-Earth asteroids, with about 135 of them being completely new discoveries. The telescope also observed millions of other objects, including distant galaxies and star nurseries.

“NASA’s NEOWISE project, which wasn’t originally planned as part of WISE, has turned out to be a huge bonus,” Mainzer said. “Everything we can learn about these objects helps us understand their origins and fate.”

During its asteroid hunt, the WISE telescope searched for space rocks within about120 million miles (195 million km) of the sun. For comparison, the Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million km) from the sun.

The data from NEOWISE, when combined with other asteroid data observations, helped NASA announce in 2010 that about 90 percent of the largest near-Earth asteroids that come close to our planet had been identified.

The new survey’s results will be detailed in an upcoming edition of the Astrophysical Journal.

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May 20

Finding justice for Haiti’s rape victims

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CNN Hero: Malya Villard-Appolon

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) — Three days after a massive earthquake threw Haiti into chaos, Alvana was homeless, along with her two children.

But her nightmare was just beginning.

“I was gang-raped while I was sleeping in the middle of the street,” she said. “And I got pregnant.”

Alvana did not know her attackers. Depressed and unsure of what to do next, she was directed by a friend to a clinic run by KOFAVIV, a Creole acronym that translates into the Commission of Women Victims for Victims.

“By the time I got to them, my belly was already big,” she said. “But they took care of me.”

Alvana was given food, water, housing and prenatal care. She decided to keep her daughter, even though the psychological pain could be difficult — and still is, two years later.

“It’s terrible,” said Alvana, 33. “I love my daughter … (but) I look at myself and see that I have a child that is a product of a gang rape.”

Malya Villard-Appolon, right, knows what it\'s like to be a victim of sexual violence. She has been raped twice.
Malya Villard-Appolon, right, knows what it’s like to be a victim of sexual violence. She has been raped twice.

Her story is, unfortunately, all too common in Haiti, said Malya Villard-Appolon, one of KOFAVIV’s co-founders.

“After (the earthquake), the situation was inhumane and degrading,” Villard-Appolon said. “There was no security in the (displacement) camps. There was no food; there was no work. And now there is a rampant problem.”

Accurate numbers are difficult, if not impossible, to find in the aftermath of such devastation, but KOFAVIV and other groups say they have seen a definite increase in rape cases after the January 2010 earthquake.

“Victims became more vulnerable due to a range of things,” said Brian Concannon Jr., director of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. “They lost their houses; there were no locked doors anymore. People lost family members who were a source of protection.”

Terrible living conditions, including a shortage of food and water, contribute to the problem as well, said Charity Tooze, a senior communications officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ Washington office.

Culture of rape in Haiti

“The conditions are so dehumanizing,” Tooze said. “Over months and months, it increases all forms of violence, including sexual violence.”

There has also been a lack of prosecution in the country. In the first two years after the quake, not one person in Haiti has been convicted of rape, according to the UNHCR.

“The big problem is, you can’t find justice,” said Villard-Appolon, 52.

Even before the quake, she says, rape was an issue in Haiti, historically underreported because of social stigma, retaliation from perpetrators and a lack of legal support. That is what led her and Marie Eramithe Delva to start KOFAVIV in 2004. Since the group’s inception, it has helped more than 4,000 rape survivors find safety, psychological support and/or legal aid.

“We tell people to come out of silence,” she said. “Do not be afraid to say that you have been victimized.”

Villard-Appolon knows what it’s like to be a victim of sexual violence. She has been raped twice, and her husband died as a result of beatings he endured trying to save her from being raped. In 2010, her 14-year-old daughter was raped in a displacement camp.

“I can’t describe to you how I felt when I heard about that, because I was a victim,” she said. “I started asking myself what kind of generation I came from. Am I cursed?”

Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2012 CNN Heroes

She escorted her daughter to two police stations and received no assistance, she said, just a lot of talk. One police officer told her that “girls are so promiscuous” and indicated that many young girls are asking for sex.

But she carries on, “fighting with hope that I know there will be a change,” she said. Internationally, she has testified before the United Nations Human Rights Council, calling for increased security within the displacement camps and asking that women’s groups be included in decision-making processes.

“I was a victim, and I did not find justice. But know I will get it for other women,” she told CNN.

When the earthquake hit Haiti, KOFAVIV’s founders watched their clinic and their offices collapse along with their homes.

Villard-Appolon lived in the dangerous Champ de Mars displacement camp for half a year. There, she said, she watched as conditions deteriorated.

“It was all kinds of people who ended up in one area,” she said. “The jails were not destroyed, but their doors were opened, and all prisoners went free. Many of them … were armed, and they were notorious murderers.”

One criminal held Villard-Appolon at gunpoint, demanding money. The police never showed up, she said, but she managed to escape after a group of supporters arrived to fight.

Villard-Appolon said many single women had to leave their children with strangers in order to search for food, water or work. In some cases, the children were raped. The youngest victim, she says, was a 17-month-old.

“I spent six months witnessing it,” she said. “Babies are not spared; adults are not spared; mothers are not spared; sisters are not spared.”

Despite the escalating violence and the loss of its clinic, KOFAVIV regrouped to help victims in Haiti’s “tent city” camps, where about 500,000 people still live today. The group has 66 female outreach agents and 25 male security guards who work within the camps, organizing nighttime community watch groups and providing whistles and flashlights to women. All of them have been affected by gender-based violence, whether personally or through a family member or loved one, Villard-Appolon said.

KOFAVIV also relies on more than 1,000 members to help share their stories, support the victims and urge them to come forward and fight for justice.

It usually starts by accompanying the victims to the hospital within 72 hours of being raped. Once they undergo a test, they receive the medical certificate they must have to begin legal proceedings.

“After that, we assign a lawyer to her,” Villard-Appolon said. There is no cost to the victims, and they receive support from KOFAVIV through the trial.

Villard-Appolon says she is determined to keep fighting for a brighter future, even though justice has been elusive.

“My dream is that we will get to a place where we stop talking about the number of rape cases,” she said. “We will stop talking about Haiti as a country where people are committing violence against others. One day, we have to be able to say that we have a country with people who respect each other.”

Want to get involved? Check out www.madre.org/kofaviv and see how to help.

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May 20

15-love: Top tennis romances

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Tennis' ultimate poster couple are still going strong after 10 years of marriage since reportedly getting together at the champions' ball after both won the French Open in 1999. They have two children and still play the odd charity match, but rarely battle each other. As their website reveals: "Andre says his problem playing Steffi is not watching the ball."Tennis’ ultimate poster couple are still going strong after 10 years of marriage since reportedly getting together at the champions’ ball after both won the French Open in 1999. They have two children and still play the odd charity match, but rarely battle each other. As their website reveals: “Andre says his problem playing Steffi is not watching the ball.”
Roger Federer met Mirka Vavrinec at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when they both represented Switzerland. Mirka says her husband's glittering career has eased her pain after injury forced her retirement in 2002. Of his wife, Roger told the Telegraph newspaper: "I developed faster, grew faster with her. I owe her a lot."Roger Federer met Mirka Vavrinec at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 when they both represented Switzerland. Mirka says her husband’s glittering career has eased her pain after injury forced her retirement in 2002. Of his wife, Roger told the Telegraph newspaper: “I developed faster, grew faster with her. I owe her a lot.”
She is the former world No. 1 waiting to land her first major title -- he's the baby-faced golfer whose capitulation at the 2011 Masters, and subsequent victory at the U.S. Open, entranced the sport. Together since September last year, Denmark's Wozniacki and McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, go by the moniker of "Wozilroy" and say they lean on each other's experiences to help their sporting performance.She is the former world No. 1 waiting to land her first major title — he’s the baby-faced golfer whose capitulation at the 2011 Masters, and subsequent victory at the U.S. Open, entranced the sport. Together since September last year, Denmark’s Wozniacki and McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, go by the moniker of “Wozilroy” and say they lean on each other’s experiences to help their sporting performance.
World No. 8 Adam Scott's appearance at last month's Australian Open confirmed that another powerful golf and tennis combo are back on the scene. They split in 2010, but 2008 French Open champion Ivanovic told Australian newspaper the Herald Sun: "Sometimes you need time apart to figure things out."World No. 8 Adam Scott’s appearance at last month’s Australian Open confirmed that another powerful golf and tennis combo are back on the scene. They split in 2010, but 2008 French Open champion Ivanovic told Australian newspaper the Herald Sun: “Sometimes you need time apart to figure things out.”
Hewitt and Clijsters, both former world No. 1s, met at the Australian Open in 2000, reportedly after Kim's sister Elkie asked her to get Lleyton's autograph. They announced their engagement in 2003 but split in October 2004. Both decried the "malicious gossip" that followed their separation.Hewitt and Clijsters, both former world No. 1s, met at the Australian Open in 2000, reportedly after Kim’s sister Elkie asked her to get Lleyton’s autograph. They announced their engagement in 2003 but split in October 2004. Both decried the “malicious gossip” that followed their separation.
Chris Evert's romance with Jimmy Connors was one that captivated the sporting world after they both won Wimbledon singles titles in 1974, but a planned wedding in November that year was called off. Tennis writer Peter Bodo famously said of the couple: "It was a match made in heaven, not on Earth, which is probably why it didn't last."

Chris Evert’s romance with Jimmy Connors was one that captivated the sporting world after they both won Wimbledon singles titles in 1974, but a planned wedding in November that year was called off. Tennis writer Peter Bodo famously said of the couple: “It was a match made in heaven, not on Earth, which is probably why it didn’t last.”

The courtship of former world No. 8 Kournikova and pop star Iglesias was the very definition of a high-profile romance when they started dating in 2001. The Russian appeared in the video for Iglesias' song "Escape," causing a media frenzy. They are still together, 10 years on.The courtship of former world No. 8 Kournikova and pop star Iglesias was the very definition of a high-profile romance when they started dating in 2001. The Russian appeared in the video for Iglesias’ song “Escape,” causing a media frenzy. They are still together, 10 years on.
British pop star Cliff Richard revealed in his 2008 autobiography "My Life, My Way" that he nearly asked 1976 French Open winner Sue Barker -- now a TV presenter -- to marry him in 1982. The couple's relationship attracted much press attention. "I seriously contemplated asking Sue to marry me," he wrote. "But in the end I realized that I didn't love her quite enough to commit the rest of my life to her."

British pop star Cliff Richard revealed in his 2008 autobiography “My Life, My Way” that he nearly asked 1976 French Open winner Sue Barker — now a TV presenter — to marry him in 1982. The couple’s relationship attracted much press attention. “I seriously contemplated asking Sue to marry me,” he wrote. “But in the end I realized that I didn’t love her quite enough to commit the rest of my life to her.”

They grew up in the same town and were instantly dubbed the "Czech mates" when they started dating in 2003. But they split in 2011, with Czech model Ester Satorova seen watching world No. 7 Berdych at November's season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.

They grew up in the same town and were instantly dubbed the “Czech mates” when they started dating in 2003. But they split in 2011, with Czech model Ester Satorova seen watching world No. 7 Berdych at November’s season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.

After her split with Connors in 1974, 18-time grand slam winner Evert married British tennis pro John Lloyd in 1979, the same year he reached the Australian Open final. Evert's alleged affair with late British pop star Adam Faith threatened to derail their marriage. They reconciled, but then divorced in 1987.

After her split with Connors in 1974, 18-time grand slam winner Evert married British tennis pro John Lloyd in 1979, the same year he reached the Australian Open final. Evert’s alleged affair with late British pop star Adam Faith threatened to derail their marriage. They reconciled, but then divorced in 1987.

Former women's No. 1 Hingis became engaged to Stepanek in 2006 but a year later the couple announced through the ATP Tour they had split. Hingis, who won five grand slam titles, retired in 2007 after testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon. Stepanek married fellow Czech Nicole Vaidisova in July 2010.Former women’s No. 1 Hingis became engaged to Stepanek in 2006 but a year later the couple announced through the ATP Tour they had split. Hingis, who won five grand slam titles, retired in 2007 after testing positive for cocaine during Wimbledon. Stepanek married fellow Czech Nicole Vaidisova in July 2010.
A third entry to the list for Evert, whose romance and susbsequent marriage to Australian golfer Greg Norman -- known as the "The Great White Shark" -- captured headlines in 1998. Evert even caddied for the two-time British Open winner at the Masters during a par-three tournament. The couple split 15 months after their wedding.A third entry to the list for Evert, whose romance and susbsequent marriage to Australian golfer Greg Norman — known as the “The Great White Shark” — captured headlines in 1998. Evert even caddied for the two-time British Open winner at the Masters during a par-three tournament. The couple split 15 months after their wedding.
Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick famously began dating Brooklyn Decker in 2007 after asking his agent to track down a phone number for the Sports Illustrated model. They were married in 2009 at a ceremony that included Agassi and Graf as guests.

Former world No. 1 Andy Roddick famously began dating Brooklyn Decker in 2007 after asking his agent to track down a phone number for the Sports Illustrated model. They were married in 2009 at a ceremony that included Agassi and Graf as guests.

The romance between Russian tennis ace Sharapova and Slovenian basketballer Vujacic blossomed in 2009 before their engagement was announced in October the following year. The former L.A. Lakers star can often be seen courtside, cheering the three-time grand slam winner on at major tournaments. He now plys his trade in Turkey.

The romance between Russian tennis ace Sharapova and Slovenian basketballer Vujacic blossomed in 2009 before their engagement was announced in October the following year. The former L.A. Lakers star can often be seen courtside, cheering the three-time grand slam winner on at major tournaments. He now plys his trade in Turkey.

Before Agassi teamed up with Graf, he married actress Brooke Shields in 1997 after a four-year courtship. Agassi, winner of three grand slam titles by then, and Shields, star of TV sitcom "Suddenly Susan," were a box office hit but split after less than two years of marriage in 1999.Before Agassi teamed up with Graf, he married actress Brooke Shields in 1997 after a four-year courtship. Agassi, winner of three grand slam titles by then, and Shields, star of TV sitcom “Suddenly Susan,” were a box office hit but split after less than two years of marriage in 1999.

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  • CNN World Sport selects the top 15 romances involving the stars of tennis
  • Rich history of tennis love-matches over the sport’s long history
  • Major champions Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf still together after 10 years of marriage
  • Caroline Wozniacki and Rory McIlroy — known as “Wozilroy” — recently started dating

(CNN) — The life of a tennis professional is tough, but the rewards are plentiful — and not just in a financial sense.

The long trawl around the globe on both the men’s and women’s tours has often been a breeding ground for blossoming courtships, as lovestruck couples decide it is game, set and match while gazing at the figure on the opposite baseline.

With Valentine’s Day upon us, CNN World Sport charts the 15 top romances involving the stars of tennis in the gallery above. If you disagree, or think we’ve missed any out, let us know in the comments section below the story.

Who could forget the enduring romance of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, both multiple grand slam winners, whose love was reputedly cemented at the 1999 French Open champions’ ball and is still going strong after 10 years of marriage?

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One of the game’s greatest ever players, Roger Federer, met his wife Mirka when the pair represented Switzerland at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

But it is not all happily ever after. Chris Evert, an 18-time grand slam champion, has served love games to two fellow professionals — Jimmy Connors and John Lloyd — only for cupid to return a double fault.

Several high-profile recent relationships have proved the kinship between tennis and other sports too, especially golf.

Golf star Rory McIlroy, who won the 2011 U.S. Open, is currently dating former tennis world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. The partnered pair refer to themselves as “Wozilroy.”

Another golfer, Australia’s Adam Scott, has recently rekindled his romance with glamorous Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion.

Tennis has long been linked with showbiz, and high-profile names in the game have often mingled with stars of stage and screen.

British pop crooner Cliff Richard’s relationship with 1976 French Open winner Sue Barker made waves in the early 1980s, while Agassi’s brief marriage to American actress Brooke Shields also attracted a deluge of headlines.

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May 19

Major champ Curtis ends long wait

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Ben Curtis ended a win drought that had lasted 2,045 days after securing the Valero Texas Open title
Ben Curtis ended a win drought that had lasted 2,045 days after securing the Valero Texas Open title

  • Ben Curtis lands his first trophy for six years by winning the Valero Texas Open
  • The 2003 British Open champ has only qualified for four PGA tournaments this year
  • His last victory came in 2006 but he didn’t record a single top ten finish in 2011
  • Curtis wins by two shots from Matt Every and John Huh at the TPC San Antonio

(CNN) — He’s a former British Open champion but Ben Curtis’ fall from grace has been such that the Valero Texas Open was only the fourth tournament he’d scraped a place in this season.

But after securing his first PGA Tour victory in six-years on Sunday, and scooping the $1.1 million prize pot, the 34-year-old can stop praying for the phone to ring to offer him a shot at redemption.

His status had sunk to such an extent he had lost his Tour privileges but after holding his nerve over a tense few final holes, he secured a two-stroke victory over Matt Every and John Huh.

“It’s been a tough couple of years,” an emotional Curtis told the PGA Tour’s official website. “Just played through it, that’s all you can do.

“You think you’re just staying positive and not worried about it, but I think deep down, you realize all the hard work you put in that, you know, finally paid off.”

Curtis was catapulted into the limelight when he won the first major tournament he competed in — the 2003 Open at Royal St George’s. It was the first time a player had won on a major debut in 90 years.

He was named PGA Tour rookie of the year that same season, and four further victories followed up to 2006. But his form dipped and so began a drought that lasted 2,045 days.

It’s been a tough couple of years. Just played through it, that’s all you can do
Ben Curtis

Last year, he failed to record a single top ten finish for the first time since he joined the Tour.

“That’s a long time,” he added. “The last couple of years I felt like I was so close to playing so many good tournaments.

“I’d end up missing the cut by one or I’d have a bad round here or there or I haven’t putted well. Finally, every part of the game came together.”

Curtis showed he still has the mettle required to get over the line in a dramatic final few holes. He saved par on the 17th hole with a nerveless 23-foot putt.

Then on the final hole he rolled in a birdie putt to finish on nine-under and claim the tournament by two clear strokes.

“When you come out here and win one, well, if I win one every year I have a great career. That would be true,” Curtis said.

“But, you know, to get to three, four, five wins — you’re a solid player. I just feel like you get yourself into contention and just have that belief, and anything can happen.”

His victory secured Curtis a two-year Tour card and almost certainly means he will qualify for the lucrative FedExCup Playoffs at the end of the season.

After restoring his pride, Curtis is determined to make the most of his reinstated privileges too, which means he can play in all but a few tournaments on the 2012 Tour.

So where will he begin? “New Orleans next week,” he replied.

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May 19

How to Perform Common Tasks Using Screen Corners In Windows

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Windows 8 includes a new metro interface which is optimized for touch screen. It makes use of the screen in order to perform different tasks. For example, if you drag your mouse to any of the screen corners, Windows 8 will let you do a specific task. Crusper is a…

How to Perform Common Tasks Using Screen Corners In Windows originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)
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May 19

Yearbook’s Special Needs ‘Tribute’ Sparks Outrage

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A Texas school district confiscated all of the yearbooks from one of its high schools after being criticized for a special needs section that listed students and their disabilities.

The Mesquite Independent School District told students they wanted the yearbooks back, a senior said to MyFoxDFW.com, because of a “slight mistake that needs to be fixed.”

The district said in a statement Friday that it wanted to honor its Special Education Program by dedicating a section to it inside the yearbook.

But Laura Jobe, a spokeswoman for the district, said a passage in the section came under question, MyFoxDFW.com reports. 

It read “Some of the disabilities the students in the Special Education Program have are being blind, deaf or non-verbal ? (students’ names) are both blind and deaf, as well as mentally retarded.”

The district declared that the section must be removed since the school did not obtain parents’ permission to run photos of their students inside it — a requirement by law –MyFoxDFW.com reports.

The school’s principal plans to call and apologize to families of the special needs students. The yearbooks will be returned to students next week.

Click for more from MyFoxDFW.com

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May 19

Qatar’s first female Olympians

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Air rifle shooter Bahiya Al-Hammad, 19, training at her club near Doha, Qatar.
Air rifle shooter Bahiya Al-Hammad, 19, training at her club near Doha, Qatar.

  • Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Brunei are the only countries that have never sent female athletes to Olympics
  • Air rifle shooter Bahiya Al-Hamad, swimmer Nada Arkaji and sprinter Noor al-Malki will compete at London 2012
  • “It’s an accomplishment for every Qatari woman,” said Al-Hamad

Editor’s note: Each month, Inside the Middle East takes you behind the headlines to see a different side of this diverse region. Follow us on on Twitter: Presenter Rima Maktabi: @rimamaktabi, producer Jon Jensen: @jonjensen and writer Cat Davies @catrionadavies

Doha, Qatar (CNN) — Bahiya Al-Hamad is a 19-year-old college student and air-rifle shooter who is about to make history for her country.

When she travels to London to take part in the Olympic Games this summer, she will be part of the first group of Qatari women ever to compete at the Olympics.

Qatar is one of only three countries — the others are Saudi Arabia and Brunei — which have never sent female athletes to an Olympics Games. This year, three women will represent Qatar at London 2012. The others are swimmer Nada Arkaji and sprinter Noor al-Malki.

It’s an accomplishment for every Qatari woman.
Bahiya Al-Hammad

All three women have been given wild cards, but there is still a weight of expectation that is not lost of Al-Hamad.

“It’s an accomplishment for every Qatari woman,” she said. “I hope I can live up to their expectation.”

Training at her shooting club outside Qatar’s capital Doha, Al-Hamad added: “Every athlete’s dream is to reach the Olympics.”

Competing in London in July and August will be a high point in her life as well as a historic moment for Qatar. “I will be very excited to go see the atmosphere there and it will sure be one the most special days of my life,” she said.

Qatar’s first female Olympians

Al-Hamad has won several regional competitions in the 10-meter rifle shooting category, but missed out on automatically qualifying for London 2012 by half a point. She said she was asleep when she received a call to say she had been awarded a wild card.

“I wanted to scream,” she said. “I really loved it. I was optimistic, but never expected to reach the Olympics.

“My dream when it comes to shooting is to be the Olympic or world champion.”

See also: Will Saudi women make Olympics debut?

It will sure be one the most special days of my life.
Bahiya Al-Hammad

One of her shooting club colleagues, Ali Rashid al-Mohannadi, 21, Gulf and Arab champion, and a senior engineering student, said he has nothing but respect for Al-Hamad.

“I think women now are better than us,” he said. “I’m very happy, because she’s a talented shooter. I’m very happy for her, and I hope she does well in the Olympic Games.”

However, not everyone in his socially conservative country feel the same.

“I feel men don’t realize the idea yet, but it depends,” said Al-Hamad. “Some of them are OK with it, some are not. They say ‘you’re a girl and you shoot?’”

She added: “Before, shooting was only for guys but now it became normal for females to an extent. When they saw women emerging in shooting they became a little bit more accepting.”

Also on Inside the Middle East: Iraqi artist inspired by George W Bush shoe thrower

Al-Hamad, who is in her foundation year at Qatar University, is now training two hours a day, five days a week with her Uzbeki coach to be ready to compete alongside the world’s greatest 10-meter rifle shooters.

“We participated in the junior Olympic Games in Singapore two years back but the result was not good,” said her coach, Ivan Shahov. “But I hope with this Olympic Games we have a chance.”

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May 19

From Baywatch to burned rubber

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Actress and model Pamela Anderson is fronting the Downforce1 racing team, which plans to compete in the 2012 European Le Mans and International GT Open series.Actress and model Pamela Anderson is fronting the Downforce1 racing team, which plans to compete in the 2012 European Le Mans and International GT Open series.
The Canadian star is pictured here with Markus Fux, the team's sole driver who also doubles up as Downforce1's marketing coordinator.The Canadian star is pictured here with Markus Fux, the team’s sole driver who also doubles up as Downforce1′s marketing coordinator.
The former Playboy model gets a closer look at the car with German socialite Marcus Prinz von Anhalt. The car was due to enter its first race at an International GT race in France this weekend, but Downforce1 announced it had decided not to enter.The former Playboy model gets a closer look at the car with German socialite Marcus Prinz von Anhalt. The car was due to enter its first race at an International GT race in France this weekend, but Downforce1 announced it had decided not to enter.
Anderson shot to fame in the hit U.S. TV show Baywatch, in which she played lifeguard C.J. Parker between 1992 and 1998.Anderson shot to fame in the hit U.S. TV show Baywatch, in which she played lifeguard C.J. Parker between 1992 and 1998.
Anderson is not the first female celebrity to enter motorsport. Socialite Paris Hilton co-founded the SuperMartxe VIP MotoGP team in December 2010. Anderson is not the first female celebrity to enter motorsport. Socialite Paris Hilton co-founded the SuperMartxe VIP MotoGP team in December 2010.

  • Actress and model Pamela Anderson is fronting the Downforce1 racing team
  • The team will compete in the European Le Mans and International GT Open series
  • The former Baywatch star says she is a fan of all forms of motorsport
  • Socialite Paris Hilton co-founded her own MotoGP motorbike racing team in 2010

(CNN) — Pamela Anderson’s career to date may have been more Playboy than pit lane, but the former Baywatch star has decided to dip her feet into motorsport by launching her own racing team.

The 44-year-old actress and ex-cover girl is fronting the Downforce1 team, which will compete in the 2012 European Le Mans and International GT Open series.

Anderson, more famous for sporting a red bathing suit as C.J. Parker in the hit ’90s TV show than racing overalls, launched the venture earlier this month with the aim of competing in the 2013 open-wheel NASCAR series in the U.S.

“Fast cars and fast women go together,” the former Playmate of the Month said on the team’s website. “Here we are surrounded by men, I love it.”

The Canadian is described as a fan of motorsport divisions “from NASCAR to Formula One” and hailed the venture as “a dream come true.”

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“I’m so proud of the Downforce 1 team,” she said. “These gentleman have achieved the impossible and built up a team in just four months.

“I cannot wait to see my cars on the race track, it’s hard to believe until I see it.”

But Anderson’s dream has been temporarily derailed. The team’s sole driver Markus Fux, who also doubles up as Downforce1′s marketing coordinator, announced they will miss this weekend’s International GT race in France.

“Due to technical issues and circumstances beyond the control of the team, the management of Downforce1 have reluctantly decided, in the interest of the team and its sponsors, not to attend the first race at Paul Ricard,” read the statement.

“The team now intends to begin its 2012 race program at the GT Open Series round at Portimao on the 28th April. The team apologizes to its many fans and supporters.”

Anderson is not the first female celebrity to be drawn to the track. Socialite Paris Hilton, heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune, co-founded the SuperMartxe VIP MotoGP team in December 2010.

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May 19

Meet Obama the campaigner

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Alex Castellanos says that Team Obama has turned the candidate of hope and change into a ferociously political animal.
Alex Castellanos says that Team Obama has turned the candidate of hope and change into a ferociously political animal.

  • Alex Castellanos: Why is Obama’s team running such an inexpert re-election campaign?
  • The latest CBS/New York Times poll says only 43% of voters would vote for Obama today
  • Obama’s reversal on same-sex marriage was obviously political, says Castellanos
  • Castellanos: Obama “is for everything and nothing at once, a creature of calculation”

Editor’s note: Alex Castellanos is founder of Purple Strategies, a CNN political contributor and a Republican media consultant who worked for Mitt Romney in 2008.

(CNN) — Conventional wisdom has it that President Barack Obama’s campaign four years ago was a political masterpiece. Yes, the Republican brand was in the toilet; the economy had cratered; his real opponent, George Bush, was a political pariah; and the country despaired for a new direction. Still, we recall the Obama campaign as a crushing force, brilliantly harnessed, riding the tide of history.

So why is his re-election campaign such a mess?

Team Obama has turned the candidate of hope and change into a ferociously political animal. They’ve discarded their most valuable asset, his stature. The outsider who flew above the hated, polarized politics of red and blue now does nothing but campaign and polarize. The Obama who was “one of us,” apart from Washington, is increasingly and, to his detriment, “one of them.”

We first picked up this change in sentiment a few weeks ago in our Purple Poll of 12 key swing states when we asked independent voters who “is just another politician?” Obama edged out Romney by 4 points. The candidate of soaring ideals has tumbled to Earth, muddied and mired in politics. Yet Team Obama has proved it can still effect change: Consistently, they make their situation worse.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter and Facebook.com/cnnopinion.

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Rand Paul ridicules gay marriage stance

This past week, the Obama who supported gay marriage when running for Illinois legislature, then flipped against it as candidate for president, flopped once more to serve his re-election. The president’s reversal did not just evolve. Its politics became transparent.

Though same-sex marriage was not “right” earlier, it suddenly became a matter of conviction. With the Democratic Convention approaching, the president needed to energize his base and defuse the likelihood of a platform war over same-sex marriage. Miraculously, at that moment, he found the courage to do the most politically useful thing.

Many of us who support the president’s new position still found the politics as subtle as neon. The maneuvering became the message. The latest CBS/New York Times Poll reveals 67% of those interviewed said the president made his decision “for political reasons.” Less than a quarter of voters believe he acted on principle.

Americans have started to connect a swarm of dots, revealing politics as the pattern. Even when this president crosses oceans, Americans see him putting politics first.

Recently, in perhaps the most damning YouTube moment yet in a presidential race, Barack Obama was captured putting domestic politics ahead of foreign policy. He was caught on an open microphone, telling outgoing Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev that he would be more amenable to Russian interests on the issue of missile defense if he survived the November elections. “This is my last election,” Obama said. “After my election, I have more flexibility.”

The president’s mask slipped. The politician beneath was revealed. Voters, including the president’s core female supporters, got to see what they had only suspected: Obama’s priorities aren’t necessarily theirs.

While our economy was melting down, Obama spent his first two years compulsively advocating a health care plan. While moms struggle to stretch their family budget and fill the gas tank, Obama’s crusading for birth control and same-sex marriage. And now, as storm clouds from Europe’s exhaustion and California’s failure begin to roll into our heartland, trapping our economy without exit, the president offers tacit acknowledgment that this is the best he can do: His campaign is about everything but what will save us.

The latest CBS/New York Times Poll says 50% of voters believe the president is doing a good job. The problem? They don’t think it is the job he should be doing. Only 43% of Americans are voting for him.

Republicans have never been able to paint Obama as a flip-flopper, despite a litany of evidence.

Candidate Obama supported “pay as you go budgeting,” but the economic meltdown excused him from his commitment, allowing him to propose a decade of trillion-dollar deficits. He spent a trillion dollars on health care, but explained it was a practical strategy to save money. In the same moment, he has urged both expensive stimulus and deficit reduction. Still he has been excused, as a practical man, with long and short-range fiscal tools on his workbench.

He reviled the Bush tax cuts and the “tired and cynical philosophy,” behind them. Then he pragmatically extended them, calling his pirouette a “substantial victory for middle class families” who would otherwise have suffered a tax increase.

The Obama running for re-election is for everything and nothing at once, a creature of calculation. His oratorical skills are seen not as gifts that elevate him above the elite political class, but tools that enshrine him as its leader. Obama has become what he came to Washington to change: He is politics.

There is a good chance the Obama campaign is about to disintegrate, if only briefly. Obama is about to walk through “the valley of death,” where candidates lose their way and are tested on an arid march. In this familiar story, the campaign that could do no wrong can do no right. Pundits who predicted an Obama victory have reversed course and insist Romney is a sure bet.

Republicans should restrain their exuberance. The race will certainly tighten again if this president fixes a fundamental and possibly fatal political mistake:

Obama is asking America to be a polarized, angry country, where we are at war with each other, tearing at our own throats. Romney is asking us to be a country at peace with itself.

Unless Obama changes course, he will not make it through the valley. This is a race Romney wins.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Alex Castellanos.

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May 19

How you help FB make billions

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It all began in a Harvard dorm room in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin start what then was known as Thefacebook. The social-networking site spreads to other Ivy League universities the next month.It all began in a Harvard dorm room in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin start what then was known as Thefacebook. The social-networking site spreads to other Ivy League universities the next month.
Zuckerberg and his partners move Facebook's base of operations to Palo Alto, California, where they meet former Napster co-founder Sean Parker. The savvy, hard-partying Parker becomes an early partner (and later president) of Facebook and helps attract investors to the fledgling network.Zuckerberg and his partners move Facebook’s base of operations to Palo Alto, California, where they meet former Napster co-founder Sean Parker. The savvy, hard-partying Parker becomes an early partner (and later president) of Facebook and helps attract investors to the fledgling network.
The company drops the "the" from its name after Parker pays $200,000 for Internet address Facebook.com. Facebook has grown to include students from more than 1,000 colleges and universities and is opening to high schools.The company drops the “the” from its name after Parker pays $200,000 for Internet address Facebook.com. Facebook has grown to include students from more than 1,000 colleges and universities and is opening to high schools.
Facebook opens to anyone older than 13 with a valid e-mail address. That same month, the site introduces its News Feed, which highlights updates, photos, etc., from friends within your network. Users revolt, starting petitions to change Facebook back, although -- as with most Facebook changes -- they eventually grow to embrace the feature. Facebook opens to anyone older than 13 with a valid e-mail address. That same month, the site introduces its News Feed, which highlights updates, photos, etc., from friends within your network. Users revolt, starting petitions to change Facebook back, although — as with most Facebook changes — they eventually grow to embrace the feature.
Microsoft purchases a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, valuing the company at about $15 billion. The deal comes after other Internet giants, including Google and Yahoo, failed to buy all or part of Facebook. By now, more than half the site's users live outside the United States.Microsoft purchases a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, valuing the company at about $15 billion. The deal comes after other Internet giants, including Google and Yahoo, failed to buy all or part of Facebook. By now, more than half the site’s users live outside the United States.
Facebook hits 100 million users. The same year, it surpasses MySpace to become the world's most popular social network.Facebook hits 100 million users. The same year, it surpasses MySpace to become the world’s most popular social network.
One month after acquiring rival network FriendFeed, Zuckerberg announces Facebook has begun turning a profit for the first time.One month after acquiring rival network FriendFeed, Zuckerberg announces Facebook has begun turning a profit for the first time.
Facebook introduces the Like button, which is quickly adopted by the thousands of news and retail sites that integrate with the social network. Some users complain there should be a "Dislike" button, too. Despite growing user concerns over privacy, Facebook hits half a billion users three months later.<br/><br/>Facebook introduces the Like button, which is quickly adopted by the thousands of news and retail sites that integrate with the social network. Some users complain there should be a “Dislike” button, too. Despite growing user concerns over privacy, Facebook hits half a billion users three months later.
"The Social Network," David Fincher's movie about the founding of Facebook, hits theaters, making Mark Zuckerberg a household name. The film is a critical and commercial hit, earning $225 million worldwide and winning three Oscars. Zuckerberg calls the movie a largely inaccurate dramatization but says it gets his casual wardrobe right.<br/><br/>“The Social Network,” David Fincher’s movie about the founding of Facebook, hits theaters, making Mark Zuckerberg a household name. The film is a critical and commercial hit, earning $225 million worldwide and winning three Oscars. Zuckerberg calls the movie a largely inaccurate dramatization but says it gets his casual wardrobe right.
Facebook rolls out Timeline, a redesign to the site's user profile pages, amid ever-present complaints about the changes. But Zuckerberg's not worried -- by this time the site has 800 million active users, half of whom log in every day. Facebook rolls out Timeline, a redesign to the site’s user profile pages, amid ever-present complaints about the changes. But Zuckerberg’s not worried — by this time the site has 800 million active users, half of whom log in every day.
Facebook buys the photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion.Facebook buys the photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion.
Facebook prepares to become a publicly traded company, raising billions of dollars from investors. The company says it expects to price its shares at $34 to $38 each, potentially valuing Facebook at more than $100 billion. Based on his stake, Zuckerberg himself will likely be worth more than $15 billion.Facebook prepares to become a publicly traded company, raising billions of dollars from investors. The company says it expects to price its shares at $34 to $38 each, potentially valuing Facebook at more than $100 billion. Based on his stake, Zuckerberg himself will likely be worth more than $15 billion.

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  • Facebook’s multibillion-dollar business model relies on user data
  • Experts say the social network’s targeted advertising can be uniquely precise
  • If you have a Facebook account, the company values you at $4.84 a year
  • Facebook has to balance targeting ads, user experience, privacy concerns

(CNN) — Every post you “like.” Every friend you add or fan page you join. Every place you check in, and every Web page you recommend.

To you, those are ways to enjoy, expand and improve your experience on Facebook. To Facebook, they’re the building blocks of a multibillion-dollar company.

In business, there’s a well-worn line that could apply to the social-networking behemoth: If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer. You’re the product.

In this case, you’re a product worth, to Facebook, an average $4.84 a year.

As Facebook hits Wall Street this week with a public stock offering that could value the company at more than $100 billion, investors appear dazzled by the company’s uncanny ability to put the right advertisements in front of its roughly 900 million users.

Top 10 reasons not to buy Facebook

Explain it to me: IPOs

Astonishing rise of Facebook

“The unique thing about these guys is the accuracy with which they can help advertisers and marketers understand who they’re getting,” said Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee Financial Services. “On Facebook, your information is authentic; they are able to basically make the ads, and your experience, more relevant. I think that is unique. It’s unprecedented and the reach is unparalleled.”

In documents filed in relation to its stock offering, Facebook says that about 85% of its revenue comes from advertising. The other 15% comes from payments made within apps that run on the site (a head-turning 12% is from a single source — Zynga, makers of social games such as “FarmVille.”)

As Bhatia suggests, Facebook’s unprecedented advertising advantage is built upon the service it provides. As users interact with the site, they gradually build a fuller and fuller picture of themselves. That, in turn, lets Facebook sell advertisers on its ability to put their product in front of the people most likely to be interested.

CNNMoney: You’re only worth $1.21 (per quarter) to Facebook

How targeted ads work

For example, say a woman who has listed her hometown as New Orleans changes her relationship status from “single” to “engaged.” Facebook suddenly has a hot prospect to offer up to a bridal retailer or caterer in the Big Easy. To dig deeper, if she lists her MBA from Loyola and has “liked” pages for, say, Saks Fifth Avenue and Mercedes Benz, you get a fuller picture of how much she might be willing to spend.

“With a reported 901 million members, Facebook is a great test bed for understanding consumers and their purchasing interests,” said Jan Rezab, CEO of Socialbakers, a social-media analytics firm. “Before Facebook, marketers relied on online surveys or focus groups to determine customer interest. Now, they can reach the customer directly on their Facebook page.”

Facebook doesn’t publicly give away the details of how its system works. But as it has begun wooing potential investors, the company has been more willing to talk about its advertising approach.

Dan Rose, Facebook vice president of partnerships and platform marketing, discussed the appeal of its social ads at an event recently in Austin, Texas.

According to research from Pew, the average Facebook user has 229 friends. When that user likes a product or company’s ad, it serves as an endorsement to those friends from someone they know and, presumably, trust.

“When I raise my hand and say, I like Einstein (Bros.) bagels, and then one of my friends sees that ad, they’re going to see my name in that ad,” Rose said. Through Facebook’s partnership with the media-research firm Nielsen, “We found that when my friend’s name is in an ad, I’m over 60% more likely to remember the ad, and I’m over four times more likely to purchase the product,” he said.

“This is word of mouth. This is word of mouth at scale. This is what, as marketers, we’ve always been trying to bottle up and find a way to take advantage of. And the social Web is finally allowing us to do that.”

Facebook’s rise to the top

Should you ‘like’ the Facebook stock?

MYB: Facebook looks to diversify board

In his 2010 book, “The Facebook Effect,” David Kirkpatrick recounts chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg’s arrival in 2008, when she sharpened the company’s focus on what would become the current advertising model. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, remained focused on growing the site and improving user experience — a focus he reportedly maintains to this day.

Kirkpatrick writes of the level of detail a Facebook ad can reach:

“Anybody can pick through endless combinations on Facebook’s self-service ad page,” he wrote, referring to the tool advertisers use to target their ads. “You can show your ad only to married women aged 35 and up who live in northern Ohio. Or display an ad only to employees of one company in a certain city on a certain day. (Employers aiming to cherry-pick people from a competitor do this all the time).

“Customers for Facebook’s more expensive engagement ads can select from even more detailed choices — women who are parents, talk about diapers, listen to Coldplay and live in cities, for example.”

In its Wall Street filing, Facebook listed its Average Revenue Per User at $1.21 per quarter, or $4.84 a year. That’s less than rivals like Google and Yahoo and miniscule compared to companies with more traditional business models, like wireless providers and cable companies.

But, as Rose says, it’s all about scale for a company that will likely reach 1 billion user accounts by the end of the year.

Are you living without Facebook?

User data and privacy

Not that the model hasn’t made some folks antsy. Time and again, tweaks to Facebook’s privacy settings have prompted user backlash, occasionally to the point that the site has reversed or modified those changes.

According to a recent Associated Press/CNBC poll, three out of five users say they have little or no faith that the company will protect their personal information. Half of those who use the site daily say they wouldn’t make a purchase through it and 57% of all users claimed they never click on ads or other sponsored content.

On a page about its advertising approach, Facebook makes it clear that it never sells user data, saying that “if you don’t feel like you’re in control of who sees what you share, you probably won’t use Facebook as much, and you’ll share less with your friends.”

Facebook officials also emphasize that while advertisers can market to specific users, they don’t receive the data that was used to make the selection and never know the actual names of the people they’ve reached. Facebook’s policy is to not actually look at user data except to check whether someone is violating the site’s terms of service.

Doubling down on user satisfaction is the most important thing Facebook can do, Bhatia said, even if it occasionally means passing up chances to max out the amount it could earn on the data users provide.

“For them, the user experience does come first and I think that’s the right strategy for the long term,” he said. “Along the way, putting the user experience first makes a lot of longer-term business sense.”

As an analyst, Bhatia is bullish on Facebook, leading the pack with an early “buy” rating at the beginning of this month. With Facebook reportedly looking at expanding into China and at monetizing its mobile app (an untapped resource even though the majority of time on the site is now spent on mobile devices) he expects its data-driven model to keep making money well into the future.

“Facebook is going to become just like search, [which] disrupted online advertising,” he said. “What Google did eight years ago — that is what Facebook is doing now. The reach is unparalleled and they’re just scratching the surface.”

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May 19

Put Your Facebook Account On Lockdown (Part 2)

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In Part 1 of Putting Your Facebook On Lockdown, we discussed how important it was to adjust the settings in your Facebook account to protect your privacy. I gave you tips for setting up your account (or to change your current information) and showed you how to setup each category…

Put Your Facebook Account On Lockdown (Part 2) originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)
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May 19

Blind Chinese activist leaves Beijing hospital, prepares to depart for the United States

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BEIJING ?  A blind Chinese activist whose escape from a rural village set off a diplomatic tussle between Beijing and Washington said Saturday that he was at an airport waiting to leave for the United States.

Chen Guangcheng told The Associated Press that he had left the hospital where he’d been staying and was at Beijing’s international airport. He said he expected to leave for the U.S. later Saturday.

He said his wife and two children were with him, but that the three did not yet have their passports. Also with him were hospital and border control staff.

“Thousands of thoughts are surging to my mind,” said Chen, who escaped illegal house arrest in his village last month and sought the protection of U.S. diplomats at the American Embassy in Beijing.

He left the embassy on May 2 and was hospitalized. Since then, he has been awaiting permission to travel to the U.S. to study.

The State Department has said that U.S. visas for Chen, his wife and children are ready for them to travel to America.

Chen has an invitation to study law at New York University.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Saturday that it had no comment on Chen’s planned departure.

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May 19

Know a hero? Nominate them!

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Anderson Cooper explains nomination process

Nominations for 2012 CNN Heroes are being accepted online through August 31.

(CNN) — It’s often said that just one person can make a difference, and CNN Heroes — everyday people changing the world — are evidence of that.

But these outstanding men and women would not have received this honor without someone taking the time to nominate them.

Tell us about individuals who are giving back in your community, people whose selflessness and personal stories inspire you. Your efforts could have a big impact.

Appreccia Faulkner nominated her mother, Diane Latiker, who opened her home to youth in a gang-ridden neighborhood.

Jack Harvey nominated someone he met at a conference: Derreck Kayongo, who recycles partially used hotel soap and distributes it to developing countries.

Heroes honored for ‘changing the world’

Marlene Jones nominated her real estate broker, Sal Dimiceli, who helps 500 people a year with food, rent and other necessities.

What it means to be a Top 10 CNN Hero

Latiker, Kayongo and Dimiceli all became Top 10 CNN Heroes in 2011, and the global recognition brought $50,000 to each honoree. Seeing them acknowledged on the world stage was rewarding to those who nominated them.

“Sal makes such a difference to people in this community, I wanted someone to know about him,” Jones said. When Dimiceli was honored as a CNN Hero, “I said: ‘Wow! I made a difference!’ “

Do you know an everyday person changing the world? It’s easy to nominate them as a CNN Hero. Here are some suggestions we hope will help you in crafting your nomination.

? Think about what makes your hero special. Ask yourself: What makes my nominee unique? What specific accomplishment has he or she achieved that is truly remarkable? What impact has his or her work had on others? We encourage you to watch videos of previous CNN Heroes to familiarize yourself with the achievements of the inspiring individuals we honor as “everyday people changing the world.”

? Take a look at our nomination form. We suggest you review the information requested about yourself, your nominee and his or her work before filling out your submission.

? Tell us about your hero. Take your time and write from the heart. Remember: What you share — in your own words — is the most important factor in advancing a nomination for further consideration. You can enter your answers to the essay questions directly on the form, or write them first in a word-processing document and “cut and paste” them into each answer field. Please note the information you provide will be used in accordance with our privacy policy.

? Click “Submit.” If your nomination has been successfully transmitted, you’ll see a “thank you” message on your screen. If you provided us with your e-mail address, we’ll also send a confirmation your nomination has been received. And yes, we read each and every one.

That’s it. Nominations for 2012 CNN Heroes remain open through August 31.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Who is eligible to be considered as a CNN Hero?
A: Nominations must be in the name of a single individual, at least 13 years of age, whose accomplishment occurred (or continued) after September 1, 2011. Nominees in the “Young Wonder” category must be 25 or younger. Groups and organizations are ineligible for consideration. Self-nominations will not be accepted. Citizens of voided countries are also ineligible. For complete details on eligibility requirements and other rules governing selection of CNN Heroes, please read our legal disclosures.

Q: How will I know if my hero is selected?
A: Because of the high volume of nominations received, we cannot respond individually to each submission. However, if your nomination advances, we will contact you and your nominee through the contact information you provide.

Q: What if I don’t know my nominee’s address, e-mail and telephone number?
A: Please make every effort to provide as much contact information as possible. We require either an e-mail address or telephone number so we may quickly contact your nominee to obtain permission for consideration as a CNN Hero.

Q: May I submit additional supportive information about my nominee?
A: There’s space at the end of the form to provide links to articles or websites with more information about your hero. Please do not send additional material unless requested.

Q: May I mail or fax my nomination?
A: No. All nominations must be submitted online through our website.

Q: What if my nomination form is rejected?
A: When filling out your form, please note that certain information is required. Those fields are marked with an asterisk (*). If you are not certain of your hero’s nationality, select “Other” from the country drop-down menu. Likewise, if you’re unsure which category his or her cause belongs in, just click “Other.”

CNN is not responsible for technical problems that may prevent your submission from being successfully transmitted. You may wish to first write and save the answers to essay questions in a word-processing document. That way, if you need to resubmit your nomination, you can “cut and paste” those answers into the form without rewriting them.

Q: Can I buy tickets to “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute”?
A: Unfortunately, seating is limited and by invitation only. Air dates and times for the global broadcast of “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” will be announced later this year.

Have other questions or comments about CNN Heroes? Contact us.

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May 19

How to Easily Convert A Spreadsheet to HTML [Quick Tips]

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You probably have done a lot of work on Excel or other spreadsheet application and you want to convert all of them into HTML document so you can place it on the Web. What should you do? This may seems like a simple question with obvious answers, but plenty of…

How to Easily Convert A Spreadsheet to HTML [Quick Tips] originally published on Make Tech Easier (RSS)
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May 19

Review: ‘The Dictator’

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Sacha Baron Cohen stars in
Sacha Baron Cohen stars in “The Dictator.”

  • Sacha Baron Cohen introduces us to one “General Admiral Aladeen,” a despot
  • He’s abducted from his hotel and only escapes assassination by the skin of his teeth
  • A barking chauvinist bigot, Aladeen makes Borat look like a puppy dog

(CNN) — That which does not kill us only makes us laugh.

That seems to be the governing principle in this outrageously offensive, but ridiculously funny, effort from agent provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen.

The “Borat” star has now exhausted the characters he introduced in “Da Ali G Show” and presumably worn out his welcome as a celebrity interviewer.

In “The Dictator,” his third and most outwardly conventional Hollywood vehicle, he introduces us to one “General Admiral Aladeen,” a North African despot who resembles Libya’s Colonel Moammar Gadhafi, but with an Osama bin Laden beard, and something of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s knack for international diplomacy. (The film is dedicated to the memory of the late Kim Jong Il.)

Is the world ready for ‘The Dictator’?

‘The Dictator’ backs ‘Mitchell’ Romney

‘The Dictator’ director on controversy

Summoned to the United Nations to explain his country’s mushrooming nuclear weapons program, Aladeen plans to throw down the gauntlet, but instead he’s abducted from his hotel room and only escapes assassination by the skin of his teeth. This close shave leaves him unrecognizably clean shaven, alone and anonymous on the streets of New York, supplanted by an idiot double under the control of his conniving uncle (played by Ben Kingsley). Mistaken for a political refugee by the well-meaning manager of a vegan cooperative grocery store (played by Anna Faris), Aladeen embarks on a new career in the service industry until he can get his country back.

There’s nothing very original in this scenario, except perhaps for the unthinking brutality of the hero. Baron Cohen and his regular collaborator director Larry Charles scarcely concern themselves putting the mechanics of the plot in place. As a piece of storytelling “The Dictator” is perfunctory to the point of disdain. In their previous efforts these merry pranksters have operated on the margins of documentary, improvising recklessly with the unpredictable dynamics of volatile situations and unsuspecting dupes.

Such mockery took cunning and courage, as well as brilliantly quick comic reflexes. At its best it exposed the venal hypocrisy, ignorance and prejudice lurking just beneath the surface of polite society. Perhaps sensing that they’re inherently on safer but also more sterile ground here, working with actors and from a script, they compensate with a barrage of bad taste and near-the-knuckle gags. There is something to offend just about everyone: 9/11 jokes, rape jokes, race jokes, child abuse jokes, you name it.

A barking chauvinist bigot, Aladeen makes Borat look like a puppy dog. But he’s certainly bracing company, the scourge of political correctness and a walking litmus test of our commitment to free speech. We’ve seen plenty of taboo-busting comedies over the last few years, but this one really goes for the jugular. Lesbians, the disabled, the Chinese, several Hollywood stars, Muslims and Jews all have reasons to cringe. Baron Cohen is an equal opportunities agitator; he takes on everybody at once and dares you not to laugh.

How can you not, when Aladeen attempts to impersonate a Chinese-American tourist by pressing his fingers to his eyes and pronouncing his “r”s and “l”s, apparently convinced of his acting prowess after starring in several vanity projects back home in Wadiya. The joke is more sophisticated than it first appears when you consider that it’s performed by an English Jew, caricaturing a North African Muslim.

For all its crudity and occasional flatness, “The Dictator” is a satire that takes no prisoners and valuable for that reason. In his big climactic speech, even the irredeemable Aladeen rises to the occasion with a brilliant piece of political oratory that turns the tables on everything we think we know about today’s cultural jihad.

It’s a superbly cheeky cinematic coup worthy of another great English Jewish comedian, Charlie Chaplin.

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May 18

Welsh village becomes world?s first Wikipedia town

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It?s a wiki world out there.

The small town of Monmouth in Wales (population: 8,807, according to Wikipedia) will become the world?s first ?Wikipedia town? on Saturday, May, 19, Monmouth county officials said on Thursday. 

Using QR tags — small square bar codes most commonly seen in magazine advertisements — every person, artifact, place, flower and thing of interest in the town can now be scanned by a smartphone and looked up on the company?s website, Monmouthpedia.

?We?re delighted that Monmouth is becoming the world?s first Wikipedia town,? said Roger Bamkin, a Director of Wikimedia UK and co-creator of QRpedia. ?Both the quality and quantity of the new Monmouth Wikipedia content is outstanding, reflecting the rich cultural, historical and natural heritage of the town.?

‘We?re delighted that Monmouth is becoming the world?s first Wikipedia town.’

- Roger Bamkin, director of Wikimedia UK

?At last foreign visitors cannot only read information in their own language, but they can edit it too.?

The project has galvanized the local community of residents, officials said, as businesses and volunteers teamed up with the Wikipedia community to create hundreds of new articles about the village in 25 different languages.

The codes are QRpedia codes, a clever adaptation of QR code technology which, instead of sending users to single web pages, actually point the user to the appropriate web page in the language of their device, be it French, German, Welsh and so on. These will be installed at key locations throughout the town, directing users to the relevant Wikipedia content.

Even Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was involved, officials said.

?I?m really excited by the Monmouthpedia project,? Wales said. ?Bringing a whole town to life on Wikipedia is something new and is a testament to the forward thinking people of Monmouth. I?m looking forward to seeing other towns and cities doing the same thing!?

Which town will be next? It?s anyone?s guess, said Bamkin.

?Your town could be next, and we hope it is,? he said.

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May 18

Qatar’s first female Olympians

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Air rifle shooter Bahiya Al-Hammad, 19, training at her club near Doha, Qatar.
Air rifle shooter Bahiya Al-Hammad, 19, training at her club near Doha, Qatar.

  • Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Brunei are the only countries that have never sent female athletes to Olympics
  • Air rifle shooter Bahiya Al-Hamad, swimmer Nada Arkaji and sprinter Noor al-Malki will compete at London 2012
  • “It’s an accomplishment for every Qatari woman,” said Al-Hamad

Editor’s note: Each month, Inside the Middle East takes you behind the headlines to see a different side of this diverse region. Follow us on on Twitter: Presenter Rima Maktabi: @rimamaktabi, producer Jon Jensen: @jonjensen and writer Cat Davies @catrionadavies

Doha, Qatar (CNN) — Bahiya Al-Hamad is a 19-year-old college student and air-rifle shooter who is about to make history for her country.

When she travels to London to take part in the Olympic Games this summer, she will be part of the first group of Qatari women ever to compete at the Olympics.

Qatar is one of only three countries — the others are Saudi Arabia and Brunei — which have never sent female athletes to an Olympics Games. This year, three women will represent Qatar at London 2012. The others are swimmer Nada Arkaji and sprinter Noor al-Malki.

It’s an accomplishment for every Qatari woman.
Bahiya Al-Hammad

All three women have been given wild cards, but there is still a weight of expectation that is not lost of Al-Hamad.

“It’s an accomplishment for every Qatari woman,” she said. “I hope I can live up to their expectation.”

Training at her shooting club outside Qatar’s capital Doha, Al-Hamad added: “Every athlete’s dream is to reach the Olympics.”

Competing in London in July and August will be a high point in her life as well as a historic moment for Qatar. “I will be very excited to go see the atmosphere there and it will sure be one the most special days of my life,” she said.

Qatar’s first female Olympians

Al-Hamad has won several regional competitions in the 10-meter rifle shooting category, but missed out on automatically qualifying for London 2012 by half a point. She said she was asleep when she received a call to say she had been awarded a wild card.

“I wanted to scream,” she said. “I really loved it. I was optimistic, but never expected to reach the Olympics.

“My dream when it comes to shooting is to be the Olympic or world champion.”

See also: Will Saudi women make Olympics debut?

It will sure be one the most special days of my life.
Bahiya Al-Hammad

One of her shooting club colleagues, Ali Rashid al-Mohannadi, 21, Gulf and Arab champion, and a senior engineering student, said he has nothing but respect for Al-Hamad.

“I think women now are better than us,” he said. “I’m very happy, because she’s a talented shooter. I’m very happy for her, and I hope she does well in the Olympic Games.”

However, not everyone in his socially conservative country feel the same.

“I feel men don’t realize the idea yet, but it depends,” said Al-Hamad. “Some of them are OK with it, some are not. They say ‘you’re a girl and you shoot?’”

She added: “Before, shooting was only for guys but now it became normal for females to an extent. When they saw women emerging in shooting they became a little bit more accepting.”

Also on Inside the Middle East: Iraqi artist inspired by George W Bush shoe thrower

Al-Hamad, who is in her foundation year at Qatar University, is now training two hours a day, five days a week with her Uzbeki coach to be ready to compete alongside the world’s greatest 10-meter rifle shooters.

“We participated in the junior Olympic Games in Singapore two years back but the result was not good,” said her coach, Ivan Shahov. “But I hope with this Olympic Games we have a chance.”

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May 18

‘Let’s Do This’: Brave Student OKs Amputations

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Aimee Copeland, the 24-year-old Georgia graduate student fighting aggressive flesh-eating bacteria, was informed by her father Thursday that the doctors would have to amputate her hands and her remaining foot.

Upon hearing the news, she raised her hands, looked at her family and said, ?Let?s do this.?

The news came from an update by Aimee?s father, Andy Copeland, on the Facebook page he created, ?Believe and pray for a miracle to happen for Aimee Copeland.?

In the post, Copeland said he knew bad news was on the horizon for his daughter when he sat down with her pulmonologist Thursday morning.

“In all my 53 years of existence, I have never seen such a strong display of courage.”

- Andy Copeland, Aimee Copeland’s father

??We need to talk about Aimee’s hands and foot,? he said as his eyes bored into mine,? Copeland wrote in the post.  ?He didn’t have to say anything. We had noticed a remarkable change over the past several days in Aimee’s hands. They went from a splotchy purple color to a red tone and then to a pinkish flesh tone. Yesterday I had noticed them turning back to an angry red.?

Copeland wrote that Aimee?s hands have now turned to a ?splotchy purplish? color, and she has an added risk of infection after a sore developed in the palm of her right hand.  The update also said that Aimee had lost a large amount of fascia ? a layer of thick tissue underneath the skin ? on her left side, making it harder for her to breathe.

However, the doctors told Copeland that Aimee?s respiratory condition was doing well after she underwent a tracheotomy on Wednesday.  The improvement gave the doctors a window of opportunity to do the amputations as soon as possible, Copeland said.

Copeland and Aimee?s sister, Paige, then sat down with Aimee and walked her through the timeline of events and told her what had to be done.  
 
Aimee contracted necrotizing fasciitis ? a rare infection of the deep layers of the skin ? after falling from a homemade zip line near a creek in Carolltown, Ga.  The bacteria, which entered her body through a gash she received during the fall, rapidly spread throughout the body, releasing toxins which destroy the skin and muscle.

Copeland said Aimee took the news about her hands and foot better than he could have ever imagined.  He said he was so proud to be her father at that moment.

?In all my 53 years of existence, I have never seen such a strong display of courage,? Copeland wrote.  ?Aimee shed no tears, she never batted an eyelash.?

Click for more from Aimee’s Facebook page.

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May 18

New Trayvon Martin Documents Released

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off

ORLANDO, Fla. ?  Medical examiners found evidence of marijuana in Trayvon Martin’s system after he was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, an autopsy report released Thursday shows.

The report was included in a large amount of evidence released by prosecutors that includes many new details about the case. The autopsy says the examiners found THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, when they tested Martin’s blood and urine.

Also in the package is a photo of suspect George Zimmerman with a bloody nose taken the night of the fight. A paramedic report says Zimmerman had a 1-inch laceration on his head and forehead abrasion.

“Bleeding tenderness to his nose, and a small laceration to the back of his head. All injuries have minor bleeding,” paramedic Michael Brandy wrote about Zimmerman’s injuries in the report.

Zimmerman told a police officer that he did not have any other bruises or cuts but his back hurt, according to a police report.

Whether Zimmerman was injured in the Feb. 26 altercation with Martin has been a key question. Zimmerman has claimed self-defense and said he only fired because the unarmed teenager attacked him.

Zimmerman is awaiting trial on a second-degree murder charge. He has pleaded not guilty.

The photo and reports were among evidence released by prosecutors that also includes 911 calls, video and numerous other documents. The package was received by defense lawyers earlier this week and released to the media on Thursday.

The report by Sanford police officer Christopher Serino says Martin had $40.15, Skittles candy, a red lighter, headphones and a photo pin in his pocket. He had been shot once in the chest and had been pronounced dead at the scene.

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May 18

New fashions inspired by New Delhi

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Trelise Cooper, pictured here at her home in Auckland, is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer. Having established herself with a range of popular boutique stores in the 1980s, the New Zealander went on to design clothes for the likes of Liv Tyler, Julia Roberts and even the cast of U.S. sitcom Sex and the City.Trelise Cooper, pictured here at her home in Auckland, is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer. Having established herself with a range of popular boutique stores in the 1980s, the New Zealander went on to design clothes for the likes of Liv Tyler, Julia Roberts and even the cast of U.S. sitcom Sex and the City.
A model exhibits clothes from Cooper's recent Spring range. Noted for her bold use of pattern, attention to detail and intricate stitching, Cooper has ascended the fashion world despite never having trained as either a designer or seamstress.

A model exhibits clothes from Cooper’s recent Spring range. Noted for her bold use of pattern, attention to detail and intricate stitching, Cooper has ascended the fashion world despite never having trained as either a designer or seamstress.

The view from Cooper's beach-side home along the Auckland coast. Of her home country, Cooper says it's a source of great creativity and freshness. "Being the first people to see the sun rise each morning, gives us a sort of freshness, an edginess," she said.The view from Cooper’s beach-side home along the Auckland coast. Of her home country, Cooper says it’s a source of great creativity and freshness. “Being the first people to see the sun rise each morning, gives us a sort of freshness, an edginess,” she said.
The dusty heat of New Delhi proved a sharp contrast to the breezy Auckland air. For Cooper, the city's "Red Fort" (pictured) epitomizes the flamboyant yet earthy Indian style. The dusty heat of New Delhi proved a sharp contrast to the breezy Auckland air. For Cooper, the city’s “Red Fort” (pictured) epitomizes the flamboyant yet earthy Indian style.
During her journey, Cooper strolled the streets of New Delhi, taking inspiration from the exotic, bright colors and the traditional stitch-work of the local garments.During her journey, Cooper strolled the streets of New Delhi, taking inspiration from the exotic, bright colors and the traditional stitch-work of the local garments.
Cooper described the crowded shopping district as "exciting and chaotic and noisy and dusty and smoky and hot." This, however, was small price to pay for the astonishing array of fabrics and accessories pouring from every street-side stall and shop. Cooper described the crowded shopping district as “exciting and chaotic and noisy and dusty and smoky and hot.” This, however, was small price to pay for the astonishing array of fabrics and accessories pouring from every street-side stall and shop.
The New Zealander was thrilled to find this particular outlet, calling it "a treasure trove of fabrics and other goodies," including textiles, ribbons, bows, buttons and beads. She took samples back with her to her fashion studio in Auckland.The New Zealander was thrilled to find this particular outlet, calling it “a treasure trove of fabrics and other goodies,” including textiles, ribbons, bows, buttons and beads. She took samples back with her to her fashion studio in Auckland.
After months of preparation, Cooper's "Fusion Journey" creations were ready for public view. This dress, with its gem-like embellishments, was hand-beaded in Delhi.After months of preparation, Cooper’s “Fusion Journey” creations were ready for public view. This dress, with its gem-like embellishments, was hand-beaded in Delhi.
As this striking rainbow print illustrates, Cooper drew heavily from the Indian palette of vibrant colours to create her new line.

As this striking rainbow print illustrates, Cooper drew heavily from the Indian palette of vibrant colours to create her new line.

Here, the detailed embroidery of the fabric mirrors the intricate henna patterns adorning many Indian women's hands

Here, the detailed embroidery of the fabric mirrors the intricate henna patterns adorning many Indian women’s hands

This fully sequinned dress, meanwhile, is inspired by the azure blue color of the Indian Ocean.

This fully sequinned dress, meanwhile, is inspired by the azure blue color of the Indian Ocean.

Most of all, Cooper returned to New Zealand inspired by the expert craftsmanship she encountered. This dress, with its ruffles and appliqué, was created using the delicate hand-stitching techniques still practiced across India. Most of all, Cooper returned to New Zealand inspired by the expert craftsmanship she encountered. This dress, with its ruffles and appliqué, was created using the delicate hand-stitching techniques still practiced across India.

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  • New Zealand fashion designer Trelise Cooper flew to New Delhi seeking new styles
  • Cooper was drawn to the city’s tradition of flamboyantly colored clothes
  • She says that the journey helped her create a line of clothing fused with opulence and romance

Editor’s note: Part culture show, part travel show, over six weeks Fusion Journeys takes six stars of the creative world to a location of their choice. There, they will create something new inspired by their experience.

(CNN) — With a star-studded client list that includes Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Roberts and Michelle Pfeiffer, Trelise Cooper is an internationally known fashion designer.

Starting out with a boutique store in Auckland, New Zealand, during the mid-1980s, Cooper’s ascent onto the fashion stage — and the front covers of Vogue and Marie Claire — is made more remarkable by the fact that she never received any formal training as either a designer or seamstress.

Instead, Cooper relied on her self-confessed “obsession” for detail, as well as a natural eye for fashion. “I was born a fashion designer” she says, and soon after she set up shop, her clothes acquired a reputation for their bold use of pattern and intricate stitching.

Cooper took up the “Fusion Journey” challenge to travel from New Zealand to New Delhi, India’s capital. Although it’s a city she had been to on business many times before, she says that she’d never allowed herself the time to study its traditional dress in earnest.

See more Fusion Journeys

There she was tasked with creating a new fashion line that would combine her own sophisticated modern style with the vibrant, brightly colored traditions of Indian dress-making.

In her own words, Cooper retraces the footsteps of her Fusion Journey.

Fashion designer Trelise Cooper
Fashion designer Trelise Cooper

Trelise Cooper: I absolutely adore the historical aspect of clothing. My ranges are full of influences from 19th-century French, English, even American vintage styles. So it’s no surprise I have always enjoyed combing through flea markets in small towns and finding rare antique gems to steal some inspiration.

I’m also obsessed with detail, so when I find a Victorian gown or a 50s bridal slip that I like, then it’s important for me to be able to emulate the exact stitching, embroidery or beading used at the time. In the West, unfortunately, most of our expert hand-stitching traditions have been lost — the skills have not been passed on and the seamstress geniuses from the couture houses of Europe have not been replaced.

That is why I’m often traveling to India. It’s one of the very best places in the world to find that expertise still thriving. From one village to the next you find whole families, generations, that have their own specialties of stitch work.

Honestly, I can give them any old historical piece that I’ve found and they will either take it away and recreate it almost perfectly, or they’ll say “hmmm … I don’t know this stitching, but I know a place nearby that does.” It’s a fashion designer’s dream!

So in one sense, I’ve been fusing my clothes with Indian influences for a while. However, I think this was the first time I’ve traveled to India with a conscious intention to create a fusion of styles: their own traditional dress with my more modern, western creations.

Walking through the streets, you see color combinations that you’d never imagine would work
Trelise Cooper, fashion designer

I just love the color and the vibrancy that is India. New Delhi is exciting and chaotic and noisy and dusty and smoky and hot. Everything is so full of intense color and I realized that, on a subconscious level at least, I’ve been influenced by Indian style … In fact, when it comes to bold use of colors and the use of these rich, deep dyes, how can anyone deny the huge influence of India on fashion around the world?

Read related: Dancing to the music of love in Buenos Aires

Walking through the streets, you see color combinations that you’d never imagine would work. I recall a beautiful woman wearing a sari in bright, radiant pink mixed with a lime green print. I mean, lime and pink! It sounds garish, but on her, with the quality of the dye and the way the colors had been combined it looked absolutely stunning.

We made our way to a shop that I can only describe as a treasure trove of fabrics and other goodies. This was the place to find all the accessories, textiles, ribbons, bows, buttons, and beads that I could take back to my studio in Auckland to use as inspiration for the final creations.

There were ideas there, old and new, that I’d never thought about. Already I could envisage opportunities to use all sorts of different laces and braids, detailed examples of hand stitching, with some other antique dresses we’d picked up from a local supplier.

Much as I love them personally, I don’t sell things like saris — and I never would — it’s not a style that would appeal to the tastes of my particular customers. However, what I took back to New Zealand, was their techniques, their intense celebratory colors, their detailed embellishments, their expert use of beads and sequins.

I worked on the new line for many months, and these are the elements I hope I managed to incorporate into them. I think they’ve added an opulence, a romance. But I’ll only know I have finished the creative process when someone comes in and says that, no matter what, they have to have it.

The garment takes them on a journey, and so my journey with the garment has finished.

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May 18

More firefighters heading to Colorado to battle blaze that prompted evacuations

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. ?  More firefighters are heading to a fire that has burned across more than 11 square miles in northern Colorado and is approaching a reservoir for the city of Greeley.

U.S. Forest Service officials said the blaze about 20 miles northwest of Fort Collins had scorched 1.5 square miles of land but rapidly expanded Thursday fueled by erratic winds.

The blaze was one of several burning in the West. A fire in northern Arizona that led to the evacuation of a historic mining town grew to more than 12 square miles even as the outlook improved from earlier in the week.

The Colorado fire was approaching the city of Greeley’s Milton Seaman Reservoir, but city officials said Greeley’s water supply hadn’t been affected as of Thursday evening.

Authorities ordered evacuations of about 80 homes near Poudre Canyon on Thursday, even going door to door to issue warnings. Residents of about 65 of those homes were allowed to return by early evening, with instructions to be ready to leave again if conditions change.

Some 400 firefighters were on the scene. Fire officials said more firefighters would be arriving Friday but did not provide an exact number.

Officials think human activity started the blaze, which was first reported Monday, but they are still investigating.

The area has seen several large fires in the past 12 years, including a fire started by an abandoned campfire in 2000 that scorched 16.5 square miles and destroyed 22 buildings. A fire in 2004 started by a couple burning trash scorched 8,900 acres near the same area of this week’s fire, destroyed a home and prompted the evacuation of 150 homes.

Area resident John Hasler said Thursday was his second time being told to evacuate in less than 10 years, and he doesn’t plan to leave.

“I was more worried when that (2004) fire was coming through here,” Hasler said. “It had already burned around 10,000 acres and destroyed a home and was moving with some force when it was heading here.”

Hasler’s home survived that fire. He said his home on 40 acres is now surrounded by a lawn of closely cropped grass. He said he feels confident he would be able to extinguish a fire with his garden hose.

In Arizona, Forest Service spokeswoman Michelle Fidler said that crews were focusing on slowing the advance of the near 8,200-acre blaze and prevent it from reaching communication towers.

Most of the 350 residents of the mountain community of Crown King, about 85 miles north of Phoenix, had already cleared out by Thursday.

The fire prompted an evacuation order Sunday and has destroyed three homes and a trailer. The blaze started at a home, but investigators were still working to determine the cause.

The Arizona Republic reported that the blaze was burning within five miles of Pine Flats, a hamlet of about 40 properties, and firefighters hustled to set a defensive line, clearing the area of trees and other fuel near homes that could be threatened.

Other fires dotted Arizona but did not threaten any structures, authorities said.

Meanwhile, separate blazes in northern and southern New Mexico cast a haze of smoke over the state but have not caused property damage or prompted evacuations, authorities said.

A wind-fueled fire in western Utah temporarily closed a state highway Thursday evening, but wasn’t threatening any structures.

In California, firefighters are working to control a 100-acre blaze that burned across the border into San Diego County from Mexico, where it has scorched thousands of acres.

The Colorado fire is burning in a drought-stricken area of steep, rocky terrain scattered with dry ponderosa pine trees, grass and shrubs.

A thick smoky cloud over Fort Collins has prompted health officials to warn that children and people with lung or heart problems should stay indoors. The haze extended 65 miles south to Denver.

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May 18

Photos highlight climate change

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Lebanese photographer Roger Moukarzel swapped his warm studio in Beirut for the frozen mountains of Lulea in northern Sweden. He was here to create a series of striking images that would highlight the cause and effect of climate change.Lebanese photographer Roger Moukarzel swapped his warm studio in Beirut for the frozen mountains of Lulea in northern Sweden. He was here to create a series of striking images that would highlight the cause and effect of climate change.
Lulea is part of the area commonly known as Lapland, a reindeer heartland and home, of course, to Santa Clause's legendary workshop.Lulea is part of the area commonly known as Lapland, a reindeer heartland and home, of course, to Santa Clause’s legendary workshop.
The reindeer share the region with the Sami, Europe's northernmost officially indigenous people, whose ancestral lands spread across Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.The reindeer share the region with the Sami, Europe’s northernmost officially indigenous people, whose ancestral lands spread across Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.
Lulea's subarctic climate, with mild summers and long, cold and snowy winters, make it an ideal habitat for reindeer. However, in recent years, locals have said that temperatures have been rising appreciably and, in 2010, a herd of more than 300 reindeer was reportedly lost when the ice cover of a frozen lake broke beneath their hoofs.Lulea’s subarctic climate, with mild summers and long, cold and snowy winters, make it an ideal habitat for reindeer. However, in recent years, locals have said that temperatures have been rising appreciably and, in 2010, a herd of more than 300 reindeer was reportedly lost when the ice cover of a frozen lake broke beneath their hoofs.
Moukarzel takes a picture of a local Sami girl, against the dark, ethereal backdrop of the Lulea forest. Moukarzel takes a picture of a local Sami girl, against the dark, ethereal backdrop of the Lulea forest.
Dressed in their rich and colourful traditional clothing, Moukarzel positioned his subjects against the intentionally incongruous image of a large, smoke-chugging factory.Dressed in their rich and colourful traditional clothing, Moukarzel positioned his subjects against the intentionally incongruous image of a large, smoke-chugging factory.
"Many of the people that are suffering the effects of climate change have not done anything to contribute to it, and areas that are being destroyed are often far away from where the pollution is made," he said. "The idea with the images is to bring these two realities closer together."

“Many of the people that are suffering the effects of climate change have not done anything to contribute to it, and areas that are being destroyed are often far away from where the pollution is made,” he said. “The idea with the images is to bring these two realities closer together.”

According to Moukarzel, this series of images will be the beginning of many. The 45-year-old photographer plans to travel across all five continents, exploring this theme among different climates and cultures.According to Moukarzel, this series of images will be the beginning of many. The 45-year-old photographer plans to travel across all five continents, exploring this theme among different climates and cultures.
It will certainly not his first big adventure. At just 15, Moukarzel started his career with moving, sometimes haunting pictures of the Lebanese civil war. It will certainly not his first big adventure. At just 15, Moukarzel started his career with moving, sometimes haunting pictures of the Lebanese civil war.
He says he has always been primarily interested in taking pictures of people and "capturing moments of humanity" -- such as this striking exchange from 1978 between a Lebanese soldier and a woman in war-torn Beirut. He says he has always been primarily interested in taking pictures of people and “capturing moments of humanity” — such as this striking exchange from 1978 between a Lebanese soldier and a woman in war-torn Beirut.
After 15 years as a front-line photojournalist for news agencies Sygma and Reuters, Moukarzel hung up his hard hat in favor of high fashion, as he embarked on a new career in the world of fashion photography.After 15 years as a front-line photojournalist for news agencies Sygma and Reuters, Moukarzel hung up his hard hat in favor of high fashion, as he embarked on a new career in the world of fashion photography.
But Moukarzel retains his desire to challenge people's preconceptions through his photography. This image was part of a series called "Turning Disabilities to Abilities."

But Moukarzel retains his desire to challenge people’s preconceptions through his photography. This image was part of a series called “Turning Disabilities to Abilities.”

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  • Lebanese photographer Roger Moukarzel travels to north Sweden to document climate change
  • Moukarzel teams up with local photograher Carl-Johan Utsi, a member of the indigenous Sami people
  • Moukarzel’s images contrast the beauty of landscape and people with industrial pollution

Editor’s note: Part culture show, part travel show, over six weeks Fusion Journeys takes six stars of the creative world on a journey of discovery to a location of their choice. There, they will learn from a different culture and create something new inspired by their experience. Watch the show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from April 9 to May 18, during Connect The World, from 20:00 GMT.

(CNN) — If Roger Moukarzel’s camera could talk, it would have some colorful stories to tell. From the front line of the Lebanese wars, to the bewitching fashion houses of Italy and France, the Beirut-born photographer has crossed every continent in search of the perfect picture.

Born in 1962, Moukarzel says his calling was thrust upon him as a teenager, when civil war broke loose on his doorstep and he felt a duty to document it. For 15 years he worked for news agencies Sygma and Reuters, capturing the spectacle and chaos of combat.

Swapping the battlefield for haute couture, Moukarzel’s fashion shots have featured on the cover of Elle magazine, while his advertising work has earned him three Pikasso d’Or Billboard Advertising awards over the past decade.

Roger Moukarzel: Lebanon through a lens

On his latest journey, Moukarzel swapped the baking streets of his home in Beirut for the glacial forests of Lulea in northern Sweden, more popularly known as the reindeer haven of Lapland.

Here he would fuse his experience of both documentary and fashion photography to create a series of staged images that tell the story of how climate change is impacting the life and landscape of the Sami — an indigenous people who live across four nations in northern Europe.

See more Fusion Journeys

He was met in Lulea by local part-time photographer and full-time reindeer herder Carl-Johan Utsi, himself a member of the Sami. Utsi’s knowledge and experience proved invaluable to Moukarzel as he attempted to tackle the rugged and frost-bitten landscape of Lulea.

Here, CNN asks Moukarzel to look back over his Fusion Journey.

Self-portrait: Photographer Roger Moukarzel
Self-portrait: Photographer Roger Moukarzel

CNN: Describe the photographs. What was the thought behind their composition?

Roger Moukarzel: This series shows members of the indigenous Sami people from northern Scandinavia, dressed in their beautiful, very flamboyant traditional clothing. They are stood in the snow in this incredible landscape of Lulea, but right behind I placed an image of industry … a big factory.

Many of the people that are suffering the effects of climate change have not done anything to contribute to it, and areas that are being destroyed are often far away from where the pollution is made. The idea with the images is to bring these two realities closer together.

CNN: What drew you to make this journey in the first place?

RM: I believe that the role of the photographer is not only to take nice pictures, but to show people something that changes how they see and understand the world.

There are lots of pictures out there of ice-caps melting, forests being chopped down and so on. They are very direct images. But I wanted to tell the story of an indirect process, a story that somehow shows the chain of events from factory pollution on one hand to habitat destruction on the other.

This journey for me was about creating images that would have an impact — that would ask the viewer to think about the cause and effect of climate change.

CNN: Why Lulea?

RM: The Samis are fighting everyday to preserve their traditions and culture. They mainly make their living from fishing and reindeer herding. The environment is really crucial for them and they are aiming to live in harmony with it.

But in the past few years, these people have really experienced climate change. Their livelihood has been affected because they’ve not been able to travel on the frozen lakes. Why? Because they’re no longer frozen! They are in crazy situation where they have to transport reindeer by truck because it is not safe for them on the ice.

I was told that two years ago, a whole herd of reindeer died in the mountains because the ice beneath them just gave way.

See also: Indian master chef gets fresh in Denmark

CNN: What were you first feelings encountering the landscape and the people?

RM: It’s interesting because for this project I had done a lot of research — I felt like I had really immersed myself in the location before I got there, and that I would have a good idea of what to expect.

But nothing prepares you for the reality — the sudden impact of the scenery, the extreme cold, the deep beauty of this dreamlike land. It goes to show that nature is much deeper than what you can ever see in a photo … this is something I always have difficulty accepting as a photographer!

As for the people, they were wonderful. So warm, smiling — despite all that is happening. They went out of their way to help me.

Nothing prepares you for the reality, the sudden impact of the scenery, the extreme cold, the deep beauty of this dreamlike land
Roger Moukarzel, photographer

CNN: You collaborated with local photographer Carl-Johan Utsi, did you work well together?

RM: I could not have done it without him. As a fellow photographer, I think he understood my intentions much more, and as a Sami himself — his knowledge and understanding of the people and the area was very important.

From a technical point of view, his experience of shooting in extreme weather was very useful. It’s not something I’ve ever done before and he showed me what to do when my camera froze, how to deal with the surroundings from a photographer’s perspective.

We had a lot of practical difficulties setting up the shoot, transporting the canvas and equipment across a very challenging landscape, and he was there for guidance at each step.

CNN: Are you happy with the results?

RM: Yes, very much so. I think there is a lot going on in these photos. You have elements of indigenous culture — the colorful dress and these remarkable people; you have the striking, other-worldly landscape; and finally you have this shocking image that grabs your attention and gives the photograph its important meaning.

But ultimately, the images are only truly valuable if they have some sort of impact. Already, I think, just by being on CNN, by you talking to me now, I can say that they are having this impact.

From here I will be traveling to at least 12 other countries using the same idea, the same motif. I’m going to go to every continent to show the real impact that climate change is having … So this was the start of my journey, and I hope you’ll be there when I reach the end.

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May 18

UN observers have dampening effect on Syrian violence, Ban Ki-moon says

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Iran accused of arming Syria

  • Security forces open fire to break up protests in Aleppo, the opposition says
  • Video purports to show thousands in a regime stronghold calling for al-Assad’s ouster
  • The U.N. chief says observers in Syria are dampening the violence

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(CNN) — Syrian forces opened fire Friday on anti-government demonstrators in Aleppo, the opposition claimed, a day after thousands purportedly took to the streets calling for an end to the regime in a city widely considered a stronghold of President Bashar al-Assad.

Security forces were attempting to break up a demonstration that began after dawn prayers in the mixed, upper middle class city in northern Syria, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition network that counts casualties and organizes anti-government protests.

While there have been a number of demonstrations in Aleppo since the Syrian uprising began, the number of people publicly calling for al-Assad’s ouster has increased significantly. It culminated this week with thousands of predominantly university students demonstrating, according to opposition groups, who posted videos of the protest outside Aleppo University on YouTube.

The size of the recent protests raise questions about whether al-Assad is losing his grip on the country’s largest city where he has enjoyed support.

The increase in demonstrations in Aleppo comes at a critical time for both sides who are vying for international support in the conflict that began in March 2011 with protests calling for political reforms and quickly devolved into an armed uprising following a brutal crackdown by al-Assad’s forces.

The opposition took to social media to urge Syrians Friday across the country to take the streets in solidarity with the Aleppo demonstrators.

Al-Assad has dismissed the opposition as foreign-backed terrorists bent on destabilizing the government.

Opposition groups, including members of the rebel army, say al-Assad’s government has been trying to hamper their efforts by accusing them falsely of links to terrorism.

CNN cannot independently verify reports of deaths and violence because the Syrian government has severely restricted access by international media.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Aleppo on Friday, though the LCC said two of the 34 people killed across Syria Thursday were from Aleppo.

There were also reports of security forces shelling the beleaguered opposition stronghold of Rastan in Homs province, the LCC said.

The reports of violence have cast severe doubts on the success of a peace plan brokered by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan.

Even so, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that 260 observers of 300 planned were already deployed in Syria to monitor the progress of the peace plan.

But Ban said recent attacks targeting the observers are “alarming and surprising.”

“There were attacks against monitors, twice. Therefore, we’re trying our best efforts to protect civilian population,” he said.

“The deployment of monitors has some dampening effect. The number of [instances of] violence has reduced but not enough. Not all the violence has stopped. So we will continue, as much as we can, to protect the civilian population.”

A video posted Thursday on YouTube purported to show thousands of anti-government protesters outside Aleppo University, where men in blue helmets could be seen. The U.N. observers wear blue helmets.

Meanwhile, another video surfaced on YouTube that purports to show Lebanon’s military arresting a Syrian activist at a hospital in Tripoli where he was being treated for wounds sustained when Lebanese forces attempted to break up clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian regime groups.

CNN can not independently confirm the authenticity of the videos.

In recent days, violence has spilled over into Lebanon and Turkey, where thousands of Syrians have fled. At least one person was killed and an undetermined number were wounded Thursday in renewed clashes in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli between factions supporting and opposing the uprising in Syria, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

The United Nations estimates that at least 9,000 people have died in the 14 months of conflict, while opposition groups put the death toll at more than 11,000.

CNN’s Amir Ahmed, Hamdi Alkhshali and Richard Roth contributed to this report.

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May 18

Why I won’t quit Facebook

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off
Omar Gallaga says Facebook, despite its flaws, remains the easiest way for him to connect with friends and family.
Omar Gallaga says Facebook, despite its flaws, remains the easiest way for him to connect with friends and family.

  • Omar Gallaga: Facebook is where I get important glimpses into 1,365 “friends”
  • Everything I post to Twitter or Google+ also ends up on Facebook, Gallaga says
  • If something ever surpasses Facebook, it may be a mobile app, Gallaga says

Editor’s note: Omar L. Gallaga is a tech-culture reporter for the Austin American-Statesman and a technology contributor to CNN.com, NPR and Kirkus Reviews.

(CNN) — Flush with cash and drunk with power after its $100 billion IPO, Facebook could be caught secretly brainwashing millions of new users into signing up (mind-control hoodies, anyone?) — and still I might not quit the world’s largest social network.

Ridiculous scenario aside, I’m pretty serious. Despite ongoing privacy concerns and rumblings of a backlash, it would take something drastic to make me leave Facebook at this point.

More than just a daily habit, Facebook has become the place where I get important, often surprising glimpses into the lives of the 1,365 people with whom I’ve chosen to connect. (That’s not counting friends-of-friends, for Facebook’s tentacles are ever-extended).

I’m not always in love with Facebook, of course. I get frustrated with the social network like everyone else. Every six months, Facebook introduces some huge new design of its site or engages in privacy-eroding practices that send many of its users howling into the status-update box.

Omar L. Gallaga

They threaten to shut down their accounts, write furious blog posts and organize ridiculous movements such as Quit Facebook Day, which got less than 40,000 people to commit to deleting themselves — a tiny fraction of the network even back in 2010.

But, in large part, the people who say they’re leaving Facebook don’t. Or they quit and come back.

Me, I’m staying put. At this point, complaining about Facebook is like grousing about the electric company while watching TV, or saying how lousy politicians are but forgetting to vote. Facebook just is. It’s become an institution — one that’s going to be around for a long while — and all the missteps it’s made in its young, eight-year life have never prompted significant user defection.

Counterpoint: Why I quit Facebook, and am not looking back

Facebook’s rise to the top

MYB: Facebook IPO pros and cons

Velshi on how to get in on Facebook

Facebook is on track to hit a billion users sometime this year. A billion people. With just a few exceptions, that includes nearly every person I have ever worked with, a big chunk of my extended family, most of my friends going all the way back to elementary school and probably all the kids who were in my nursery at the hospital where I was born.

There’s critical mass, and then there’s Facebook, the Death Star that deflects every effort to blow it up. Facebook has won the social-media wars because it’s where all the people are. Those who have been waiting for something else to take its place, the way Facebook siphoned off the population of MySpace about five years ago, are still waiting. MySpace, even at its peak, never had the mainstream acceptance and durability of Facebook.

I post lots of random thoughts and news links on Twitter, share photos of my wanderings on Instagram and still check in on the increasingly hollow Google+ on a daily basis. But everything I post to those services also ends up on Facebook because it’s the platform that feels the most robust and future-proof.

Since Facebook introduced its controversial Timeline design last year, my important personal milestones (college graduation, marriage, the births of my daughters, the “Friday Night Lights” finale) all have neatly filed themselves into the digital record of my life.

That’s what Facebook wants, of course. But I’ve come to stop resisting its voracious appetite for personal information.

If I didn’t share, and my friends and relatives and co-workers didn’t share, I’d be less apt to know who just got engaged, who just celebrated a graduation or who in my online community just died suddenly. When my grandmother died earlier this year, it was the place my relatives posted photos of her I’d never seen before. It was where far-flung friends and family members offered their condolences for weeks after the funeral service.

Sure, we’ve seen the inevitable backlash as Facebook has grown to include everyone from your grandmother to that third-grade classmate you never really wanted to hear from again. But lately, it feels like the arguments in favor of leaving Mark Zuckerberg’s social network have gotten weaker as people become more resigned to the notion of a permanent Facebook.

When Facebook recently bought photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion, Instagram users vowed to quit, complaining that their precious little network had sold out to a monolithic company. (Funny, that didn’t stop Instagram from jumping from 30 million users to 50 million in about a month.)

Would-be competitors who have tried to take on Facebook have largely failed to gain traction. Path, which has a lovely interface and is more focused on smaller circles of friends, just hit 2 million users a few months ago. And Diaspora, the open-source, nonprofit that was supposed to threaten Facebook’s laissez-faire attitude toward privacy, has yet to crack half a million users.

Once Facebook has shareholders to answer to, things may change. But perhaps not as much as you’d expect. At a South by Southwest Interactive event in 2008, I saw Zuckerberg speak about his company to application developers. Even then, he stressed that the future of Facebook was not as a website or tool, but as a global communication platform upon which other things would be built. It’s been amazing to observe how little he’s veered from that vision during four years of astronomical growth.

If something is ever going to take the place of Facebook once the company gets so big and complacent that it loses focus, it will probably be something built on top of Facebook. Perhaps a mobile app that accesses the social network’s huge population, something Facebook-adjacent that takes what people like about Facebook and turns it into something more nimble and attractive than Facebook itself.

Maybe then I’ll think about pulling up stakes. Until then, I’m not leaving.

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May 18

The global battle of Manchester

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off

City wins battle of Manchester

  • Manchester City beat Manchester United 1-0 in derby match key to title race
  • City captain Vincent Kompany heads the game’s only goal at the end of first half
  • City go top in the English Premier League on goal difference with two games to play
  • Worldwide audience of 600 million watched the game between fierce local rivals

(CNN) — The world watched Manchester, and Manchester watched the world turn red and blue.

According to some analysts more than 600 million people across the globe tuned into see the blue of Manchester City beat the red of Manchester United 1-0, arguably the biggest audience for the biggest match in English Premier League history.

Vincent Kompany’s headed goal deep in first-half injury time was enough to take City top of the league from their rivals on goal difference. Psychologically, with two games left, it could prove decisive and hand City the advantage as they hunt a historic first Premier League title.

The match itself was enthralling without being exciting, tense without many chances on goal. But by the end, as Manchester City fans sang their club’s famous adopted song “Blue Moon,” there was a sense that history was being witnessed. United coach Alex Ferguson lost his cool and remonstrated with his opposite number Roberto Mancini. But the game was lost for United. Perhaps as one empire rises, another falls.

I think next Saturday we’ll have another difficult day
Manchester City Coach Roberto Mancini

TV networks from China to Qatar sent their chief correspondents to relay something of the febrile atmosphere to their expectant domestic audiences, audiences that have taken English football as their own over the past two decades.

Even in America, traditionally one of the few bastions of football refuseniks, TV chiefs decided to upgrade the match to ESPN’s main channel. This, CNN’s Eliott C. McLaughlin told us, was a very big deal indeed.

Yet it wasn’t always like this.

Once, not so long ago, few outside of those standing on the terraces attending this derby match in the north west of England would have been able to watch the spectacle.

True the Manchester derby has always been a passionate, sometimes brutal affair over the years. The fortunes of both the red half of United and the blue of City have ebbed and flowed as the decades pass. City haven’t won the league for 44 years. Instead they watched United become the greatest team of the Premier League era, not to mention arguably the most recognizable and profitable brand in the world.

Manchester football giants to clash

But in 1974 the boot was on the other foot when Denis Law — a United legend who had signed for City — sheepishly backheeled the goal that relegated United to the second division.

Such a scenario in 2012 would be unthinkable. Today the Manchester derby has reached the kind of global prominence that Barcelona versus Real Madrid — even if Spain’s biggest match isn’t a derby in the truest sense of the word — would normally enjoy.

Man U. looks for another title

Its rise is much more than just the story of two successful football teams. The rise of the Manchester derby is also the story of the rise of globalization.

United and City are separated by just five miles yet the local has become the global.

On the pitch, 10 different nationalities featured. The stadium’s naming rights have been sold to a Middle Eastern airline. United is owned by the Glazer family, the American venture capitalists who knew virtually nothing about football outside of their love of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who bought the English club in an unpopular leveraged buy out.

Manchester City has been transformed by the mega money from the Arab world, owned as it is by Sheikh Mansour from the ruling family of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. It was Sheikh Mansour’s money that turned a sleepy, underperforming club into champions elect.

As the movement of capital and talent has been made easier, football — and especially the Premier League — has reaped the financial benefits. But no two entities have benefited more than Manchester’s two football clubs.

“I think we deserved to win this game,” Mancini told British TV after the match.

“I think next Saturday we’ll have another difficult day.”

And he’s right, of course. Manchester City easily fended off United’s late charge. United didn’t even manage a shot on target during the entire 90 minutes. Now the two teams are equal on points with just two matches left.

As Mancini said, next Saturday will be the same as Monday; a difficult day, almost too close to call.

But there’s one thing that you can predict. On Saturday the world will be watching once again.

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May 18

Wife of Killed US Captain ‘Shocked’ Jihadist Cleared

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The wife of an Army captain killed in Iraq says that she feels only “sadness” and “shock” that the jihadist behind the vicious attack was cleared of charges — and could be freed by an Iraqi court in the coming days.  

Charlotte Freeman told FoxNews.com this morning, “It was like a pit (opening) inside of me,” when she learned Wednesday night that Ali Musa Daqduq had been cleared May 7 of masterminding the operation that felled Capt. Brian Freeman in 2007.

“I briefly read it and couldn?t read on. I couldn?t go there,? she said. ?It wasn’t like he was dying again. It was more shock that these people get away with what they do. There?s no justice. It?s amazing and shocking to me that someone who did what he did could go free.?

Allied forces captured Daqduq about a month after the 2007 attack on a provincial governor’s fortified compound in Karbala, south of Baghdad. The Lebanese native was then turned over in December 2011 to Iraqi authorities under a 2008 agreement between that country’s government and the U.S., in which Iraqi insurgents would be extradited and tried in their native country.

?It wasn’t like he was dying again.”

- Charlotte Freeman

Several lawmakers, citing Daqduq’s Lebanese ancestry, have since criticized the Obama administration for his release, saying that he should have been held in Guantanamo Bay, and tried by a U.S. military tribunal. Several congressmen from the House Judiciary Committee wrote Obama in protest this week.

A senior administration official told Fox News the U.S. strongly opposes Daqduq’s acquittal, but respects the independence of the Iraqi judiciary. The official also said Daqduq remains in custody and that U.S. officials continue to work with Iraqi officials to pursue all legal options.

The official restated the administration’s position that it was legally obligated under the 2008 security agreement to transfer Daqduq into Iraqi custody, but only after assurance he would be held accountable for his crimes.

The Jan. 20, 2007, killings reportedly occurred when a convoy of SUVs that looked like one belonging to U.S. forces cleared several checkpoints to reach a government compound that include an American security team. Once inside the base, the vehicle occupants, wearing U.S. uniforms, fatally shot one soldier and kidnapped four others, who were later killed. Daqduq was reportedly captured about a month later in Basra.

Charlotte Freeman, as well as Capt. Freeman’s biological mother and his stepfather, aren’t casting blame. They said that although news of the verdict “saddened them,” as Freeman put it, they never counted on getting justice from a nation only now emerging from more than a decade of war.

Charlotte Freeman even testified during the court proceeding via satellite feed, acting as something of a character witness for her fallen husband. She told the judge how Brian Freeman wanted to help rebuild the nation. When he died, Capt. Freeman was engaged in helping Iraqi beekeepers, as well as getting medical attention for an 11-year-old boy, according to the Los Angeles Times.

?He was rebuilding schools and roads and that type of work. I felt like the judge was very sympathetic,? Charlotte Freeman told FoxNews.com. ?I had more hope that there would be some charges brought against (Daqduq) for something.

?I wasn?t looking for vengeance, but closure,? Charlotte Freeman said, adding that testifying at the trial did give her a measure of peace. ?I don?t think I?ll ever feel complete closure. I?ll miss and love him. The pain doesn?t go away.?

Freeman?s biological mother, and the stepfather who raised him from the age of 8, echoed Charlotte?s sentiments.

?It doesn?t surprise me,? said Kathleen Snyder, Freeman?s 62-year-old mother, a retired school worker who now lives in Utah . ?This man is nothing but the (personification) of the horrors and evils of war. And this is what happens in war.

?I feel empty,? she added. ?Nothing can bring our son back and nothing can bring back the 100,000 people who died in this war. It?s example of the futility of trying to change the world. We need to take care of America first.?

Charlotte Freeman, meanwhile, struggles with what she says is the toughest time of the year.

?I?m sad,” she said. “May 1 was my wedding anniversary. His birthday is coming up in June. Father?s Day is coming up.

“I just feel sadness. Unfortunately, these things happen when we?re at war, and there really isn?t justice in this type of situation. Even if they had held him and charged him, it doesn?t bring my husband back. It doesn?t bring my kids? father back.?

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May 17

Why I won’t quit Facebook

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off
Omar Gallaga says Facebook, despite its flaws, remains the easiest way for him to connect with friends and family.
Omar Gallaga says Facebook, despite its flaws, remains the easiest way for him to connect with friends and family.

  • Omar Gallaga: Facebook is where I get important glimpses into 1,365 “friends”
  • Everything I post to Twitter or Google+ also ends up on Facebook, Gallaga says
  • If something ever surpasses Facebook, it may be a mobile app, Gallaga says

Editor’s note: Omar L. Gallaga is a tech-culture reporter for the Austin American-Statesman and a technology contributor to CNN.com, NPR and Kirkus Reviews.

(CNN) — Flush with cash and drunk with power after its $100 billion IPO, Facebook could be caught secretly brainwashing millions of new users into signing up (mind-control hoodies, anyone?) — and still I might not quit the world’s largest social network.

Ridiculous scenario aside, I’m pretty serious. Despite ongoing privacy concerns and rumblings of a backlash, it would take something drastic to make me leave Facebook at this point.

More than just a daily habit, Facebook has become the place where I get important, often surprising glimpses into the lives of the 1,365 people with whom I’ve chosen to connect. (That’s not counting friends-of-friends, for Facebook’s tentacles are ever-extended).

I’m not always in love with Facebook, of course. I get frustrated with the social network like everyone else. Every six months, Facebook introduces some huge new design of its site or engages in privacy-eroding practices that send many of its users howling into the status-update box.

Omar L. Gallaga

They threaten to shut down their accounts, write furious blog posts and organize ridiculous movements such as Quit Facebook Day, which got less than 40,000 people to commit to deleting themselves — a tiny fraction of the network even back in 2010.

But, in large part, the people who say they’re leaving Facebook don’t. Or they quit and come back.

Me, I’m staying put. At this point, complaining about Facebook is like grousing about the electric company while watching TV, or saying how lousy politicians are but forgetting to vote. Facebook just is. It’s become an institution — one that’s going to be around for a long while — and all the missteps it’s made in its young, eight-year life have never prompted significant user defection.

Counterpoint: Why I quit Facebook, and am not looking back

Facebook’s rise to the top

MYB: Facebook IPO pros and cons

Velshi on how to get in on Facebook

Facebook is on track to hit a billion users sometime this year. A billion people. With just a few exceptions, that includes nearly every person I have ever worked with, a big chunk of my extended family, most of my friends going all the way back to elementary school and probably all the kids who were in my nursery at the hospital where I was born.

There’s critical mass, and then there’s Facebook, the Death Star that deflects every effort to blow it up. Facebook has won the social-media wars because it’s where all the people are. Those who have been waiting for something else to take its place, the way Facebook siphoned off the population of MySpace about five years ago, are still waiting. MySpace, even at its peak, never had the mainstream acceptance and durability of Facebook.

I post lots of random thoughts and news links on Twitter, share photos of my wanderings on Instagram and still check in on the increasingly hollow Google+ on a daily basis. But everything I post to those services also ends up on Facebook because it’s the platform that feels the most robust and future-proof.

Since Facebook introduced its controversial Timeline design last year, my important personal milestones (college graduation, marriage, the births of my daughters, the “Friday Night Lights” finale) all have neatly filed themselves into the digital record of my life.

That’s what Facebook wants, of course. But I’ve come to stop resisting its voracious appetite for personal information.

If I didn’t share, and my friends and relatives and co-workers didn’t share, I’d be less apt to know who just got engaged, who just celebrated a graduation or who in my online community just died suddenly. When my grandmother died earlier this year, it was the place my relatives posted photos of her I’d never seen before. It was where far-flung friends and family members offered their condolences for weeks after the funeral service.

Sure, we’ve seen the inevitable backlash as Facebook has grown to include everyone from your grandmother to that third-grade classmate you never really wanted to hear from again. But lately, it feels like the arguments in favor of leaving Mark Zuckerberg’s social network have gotten weaker as people become more resigned to the notion of a permanent Facebook.

When Facebook recently bought photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion, Instagram users vowed to quit, complaining that their precious little network had sold out to a monolithic company. (Funny, that didn’t stop Instagram from jumping from 30 million users to 50 million in about a month.)

Would-be competitors who have tried to take on Facebook have largely failed to gain traction. Path, which has a lovely interface and is more focused on smaller circles of friends, just hit 2 million users a few months ago. And Diaspora, the open-source, nonprofit that was supposed to threaten Facebook’s laissez-faire attitude toward privacy, has yet to crack half a million users.

Once Facebook has shareholders to answer to, things may change. But perhaps not as much as you’d expect. At a South by Southwest Interactive event in 2008, I saw Zuckerberg speak about his company to application developers. Even then, he stressed that the future of Facebook was not as a website or tool, but as a global communication platform upon which other things would be built. It’s been amazing to observe how little he’s veered from that vision during four years of astronomical growth.

If something is ever going to take the place of Facebook once the company gets so big and complacent that it loses focus, it will probably be something built on top of Facebook. Perhaps a mobile app that accesses the social network’s huge population, something Facebook-adjacent that takes what people like about Facebook and turns it into something more nimble and attractive than Facebook itself.

Maybe then I’ll think about pulling up stakes. Until then, I’m not leaving.

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May 17

Brazil passes information access law; implementation might be the real challenge

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off

RIO DE JANEIRO ?  A freedom of information law has taken effect in Brazil, challenging an embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy.

Proponents, including President Dilma Rousseff, said the measure is nothing short of a revolution for a system that has kept tight control over information for decades.

But even as the president hailed the potential of the law that went into effect Wednesday, experts cautioned that it will take more than a piece of paper and political goodwill at the top to change attitudes about the flow of information. Most citizens, even journalists, are unfamiliar with the concept of free access to public data.

Experts say a lack of transparency has allowed corruption, inefficiency and wastefulness to go unchecked in the public realm. Last year, five of Rousseff’s ministers were sacked or stepped down following public allegations of corruption and misuse of public money.

“From now on, transparency is obligatory, under law, and will function as an efficient inhibitor of all the bad uses of public money, and of violations of human rights,” Rousseff said on Wednesday, a day that also marked the inauguration of a truth commission that will investigate human rights abuses committed during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985.

The president, who as a leftist guerrilla was imprisoned and tortured in the early 1970s under a military regime, acknowledged that both developments are the result of decades of work toward democratic ideals.

Brazil’s 1988 constitution enshrined the right to access information, but the new measure gives citizens a legal tool to enforce that right in a court. Its scope is broad: Unlike the U.S. Freedom of Information Act, which applies to the executive branch at the federal level, Brazil’s law covers all branches of government at all levels. However, there is still no set of regulations detailing how citizens can ask for data, and what municipal, state or federal officials must do to comply.

The sweep of the measure poses a significant challenge to the country, said Brazil-based researcher Greg Michener, who specializes in transparency and freedom of information laws. If civilians and the media demand compliance, the law could be a real force for positive change, he said. But Brazilians might also just throw up their hands at the enormity of the job, and abandon the idea.

This is a country where some laws simply “don’t take,” he said, and there is a danger this one could fall by the wayside if Brazilians don’t push for compliance.

“These laws are sophisticated instruments, and depend on an informed populace,” he said. “You’d think the media would be most interested, that they’d want better information. But there isn’t really an awareness of what the law is in the Brazilian press.”

Michener compared Brazil to Mexico, which passed its own information access law in 2002, and took five years to implement it. Mexico also created an autonomous institution to govern the law’s application. The Brazilian law allowed six months for preparation, and will be overseen by an existing government oversight body which also has other responsibilities, said Michener. “The chances of it taking off are narrow,” he said.

Groups that pushed for the bill say they are trying to ensure it doesn’t end up on the dustbin of well-intentioned laws that never took hold. The nonprofit watchdog group Contas Abertas, “Open Accounts,” celebrated the law’s enactment by shooting out 100 requests for information all over the country, to all branches of government. Brazil’s federal comptroller’s office said there were just over 700 requests in total on the law’s first day.

“It was a fight for us to get to this point,” said Gil Castello Branco, founder of Contas Abertas. “But I always remember what Thomas Jefferson said, that the execution of the law is more important than the making of them. This is particularly true in Brazil, where some laws are never followed.”

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May 17

As Facebook grows, millions say ‘no, thanks’

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off

NEW YORK ?  Don’t try to friend MaLi Arwood on Facebook. You won’t find her there.

You won’t find Thomas Chin, either. Or Kariann Goldschmitt. Or Jake Edelstein.

More than 900 million people worldwide check their Facebook accounts at least once a month, but millions more are Facebook holdouts.

They say they don’t want Facebook. They insist they don’t need Facebook. They say they’re living life just fine without the long-forgotten acquaintances that the world’s largest social network sometimes resurrects.

They are the resisters.

“I’m absolutely in touch with everyone in my life that I want to be in touch with,” Arwood says. “I don’t need to share triviality with someone that I might have known for six months 12 years ago.”

Even without people like Arwood, Facebook is one of the biggest business success stories in history. The site had 1 million users by the end of 2004, the year Mark Zuckerberg started it in his Harvard dorm room. Two years later, it had 12 million. Facebook had 500 million by summer 2010 and 901 million as of March 31, according to the company.

‘I do not want more distractions.’

- Len Kleinrock, 77, part of team that invented the Internet

That staggering rise in popularity is one reason why Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering is one of the most hotly anticipated in years. The company’s shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday under the ticker symbol “FB”. Facebook is likely to have an estimated market valuation of some $100 billion, making it worth more than Kraft Foods, Ford or Disney.

Facebook still has plenty of room to grow, particularly in developing countries where people are only starting to get Internet access. As it is, about 80 percent of its users are outside U.S. and Canada.

But if Facebook is to live up to its pre-IPO hype and reward the investors who are clamoring for its stock this week, it needs to convince some of the resisters to join. Two out of every five American adults have not joined Facebook, according to a recent Associated Press-CNBC poll. Among those who are not on Facebook, a third cited a lack of interest or need.

If all those people continue to shun Facebook, the social network could become akin to a postal system that only delivers mail to houses on one side of the street. The system isn’t as useful, and people aren’t apt to spend as much time with it. That means fewer opportunities for Facebook to sell ads.

Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, says that new communications channels — from the telephone to radio, TV and personal computers — often breed a cadre of holdouts in their early days.

“It’s disorienting because people have different relationships with others depending on the media they use,” Rainie says. “But we’ve been through this before. As each new communications media comes to prominence, there is a period of adoption.”

Len Kleinrock, 77, says Facebook is fine for his grandchildren, but it’s not for him.

“I do not want more distractions,” he says. “As it is, I am deluged with email. My friends and colleagues have ready access to me and I don’t really want another service that I would feel obliged to check into on a frequent basis.”

Kleinrock says his resistance is generational, but discomfort with technology isn’t a factor.

After all, Kleinrock is arguably the world’s first Internet user. The University of California, Los Angeles professor was part of the team that invented the Internet. His lab was where researchers gathered in 1969 to send test data between two bulky computers –the beginnings of the Arpanet network, which morphed into the Internet we know today.

“I’m having a `been-there, done-that’ feeling,” Kleinrock says. “There’s not a need on my part for reaching out and finding new social groups to interact with. I have trouble keeping up with those I’m involved with now.”

Thomas Chin, 35, who works at an advertising and media planning company in New York, says he may be missing out on what friends-of-friends-of-friends are doing, but he doesn’t need Facebook to connect with family and closer acquaintances.

“If we’re going to go out to do stuff, we organize it (outside) of Facebook,” he says.

Some people don’t join the social network because they don’t have a computer or Internet access, are concerned about privacy, or generally dislike Facebook. Those without a college education are less likely to be on Facebook, as are those with lower incomes. Women who choose to skip Facebook are more likely than men to cite privacy issues, while seniors are more likely than those 50-64 years old to cite computer issues, according the AP-CNBC poll.

About three-quarters of seniors are not on Facebook. By contrast, more than half of those under 35 use it every day.

The poll of 1,004 adults nationwide was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications May 3-7 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Steve Jones, a professor who studies online culture and communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago, says many resisters consider Facebook to be too much of a chore.

“We’ve added social networking to our lives. We haven’t added any hours to our days,” Jones says. “The decision to be online on Facebook is simultaneously a decision not to be doing something else.”

Jones says many people on Facebook try to overcome that by multitasking, but they end up splitting their attention and engaging with others online only superficially.

Arwood, 47, a restaurant manager in Chicago, says she was surprised when colleagues on an English-teaching program in rural Spain in 2010 opted to spend their breaks checking Facebook.

“I spent my time on break trying to learn more about the Spanish culture, really taking advantage of it,” she says. “I went on walks with some of the students and asked them questions.”

Kariann Goldschmitt, 32, a music professor at New College of Florida in Sarasota, Fla., was on Facebook not long after its founding in 2004, but she quit in 2010. In part, it was because of growing concerns about her privacy and Facebook’s ongoing encouragement of people to share more about themselves with the company, with marketers and with the world.

She says she’s been much more productive since leaving.

“I was a typical user, on it once or twice a day,” she says. “After a certain point, I sort of resented how it felt like an obligation rather than fun.”

Besides Facebook resisters and quitters, there are those who take a break. In some cases, people quit temporarily as they apply for new jobs, so that potential employers won’t stumble on photos of their wild nights out drinking. Although Facebook doesn’t make it easy to find, it offers options for both deleting and suspending accounts.

Goldschmitt says it takes effort to stay in touch with friends and relatives without Facebook. For instance, she has to make mental notes of when her friends are expecting babies, knowing that they have become so used to Facebook “that they don’t engage with us anymore.”

“I’m like, `Hmmm, when is nine months?’ I have to remember to contact them since they won’t remember to tell me when the baby’s born.”

Neil Robinson, 54, a government lawyer in Washington, says that when his nephew’s son was born, pictures went up on Facebook almost immediately. As a Facebook holdout, he had to wait for someone to email photos.

After years of resisting, Robinson plans to join next month, mostly because he doesn’t want to lose touch with younger relatives who choose Facebook as their primary means of communication.

But for every Robinson, there is an Edelstein, who has no desire for Facebook and prefers email and postcards.

“I prefer to keep my communications personal and targeted,” says Jake Edelstein, 41, a pharmaceutical consultant in New York. “You’re getting a message that’s written for you. Clearly someone took the time to sit down to do it.”

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May 17

Prison, persecution and football

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Next month sees the start of football's European Championships, arguably the toughest competition in world football. Ukraine will co-host the event with Poland, but it has been overshadowed by the treatment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been in prison since last October on charges of abuse of power.Next month sees the start of football’s European Championships, arguably the toughest competition in world football. Ukraine will co-host the event with Poland, but it has been overshadowed by the treatment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has been in prison since last October on charges of abuse of power.
It is alleged by Tymoshenko's supporters that charges against the former prime minister, who came to the fore during the Orange Revolution that swept Ukraine in 2004 and 2005, are politically motivated, trumped up by current president Viktor Yanukovych. They also allege that Tymoshenko was beaten while in prison.<br/><br/>It is alleged by Tymoshenko’s supporters that charges against the former prime minister, who came to the fore during the Orange Revolution that swept Ukraine in 2004 and 2005, are politically motivated, trumped up by current president Viktor Yanukovych. They also allege that Tymoshenko was beaten while in prison.
CNN spoke to Tymoshenko's daughter Eugenia about her mother's detention and alleged beating. The pictures caused a political firestorm, with many European leaders now boycotting the tournament.<br/><br/>CNN spoke to Tymoshenko’s daughter Eugenia about her mother’s detention and alleged beating. The pictures caused a political firestorm, with many European leaders now boycotting the tournament.
Dozens of European political figures have boycotted the event in protest at Tymoshenko's treatment, including the EU president and head of the EU commission Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso is pictured here receiving an official Euro 2012 match ball from President Yanukovych just 18 months ago.Dozens of European political figures have boycotted the event in protest at Tymoshenko’s treatment, including the EU president and head of the EU commission Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso is pictured here receiving an official Euro 2012 match ball from President Yanukovych just 18 months ago.
The controversy is a far cry from the euphoria that followed the Orange Revolution in 2004 and 2005. The uprising was sparked when Viktor Yushchenko lost the presidential election to the then prime minister Viktor Yanukovych after alleged voter fraud.The controversy is a far cry from the euphoria that followed the Orange Revolution in 2004 and 2005. The uprising was sparked when Viktor Yushchenko lost the presidential election to the then prime minister Viktor Yanukovych after alleged voter fraud.
Yushchenko was taken seriously ill during the uprising. His supporters alleged that he was deliberately poisoned to prevent him winning the election. But he survived and, after the allegations of vote fraud had provoked massive street protests, a new round of voting took place which Yushchenko won.Yushchenko was taken seriously ill during the uprising. His supporters alleged that he was deliberately poisoned to prevent him winning the election. But he survived and, after the allegations of vote fraud had provoked massive street protests, a new round of voting took place which Yushchenko won.
Although Yushchenko had won the election it was the blonde-haired figure of Tymoshenko that captured the public's attention. She was appointed prime minister in the new government.Although Yushchenko had won the election it was the blonde-haired figure of Tymoshenko that captured the public’s attention. She was appointed prime minister in the new government.
Here Tymoshenko meets with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Although it was all smiles on the international stage, domestically Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko were locked in a bitter power struggle.Here Tymoshenko meets with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Although it was all smiles on the international stage, domestically Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko were locked in a bitter power struggle.
The Ukrainian people had had enough of the infighting, and made a decisive decision in the 2010 presidential elections. Yushchenko received just 5% of the vote while Tymoshenko narrowly lost to Yanukovych, who had lost the 2004 election. This time international observers judged the election to be free and fair.<br/><br/>The Ukrainian people had had enough of the infighting, and made a decisive decision in the 2010 presidential elections. Yushchenko received just 5% of the vote while Tymoshenko narrowly lost to Yanukovych, who had lost the 2004 election. This time international observers judged the election to be free and fair.
Preparations for Euro 2012 did not run smoothly. The new president promised to allay UEFA's concerns over the slow building work. Here Ukrainian riot police practice ahead of the arrival of tens of thousands of football fans from across Europe. But there are still some worries. Amnesty International issued a warning to fans that Ukraine's police exhibited "criminal" behavior. Preparations for Euro 2012 did not run smoothly. The new president promised to allay UEFA’s concerns over the slow building work. Here Ukrainian riot police practice ahead of the arrival of tens of thousands of football fans from across Europe. But there are still some worries. Amnesty International issued a warning to fans that Ukraine’s police exhibited “criminal” behavior.
The preparations were completed and Ukraine now awaits the biggest sporting event to ever take place in the country's history. But how many European heads of state will actually turn up for the final at the $500 million Olympic Stadium in the capital Kiev on July 1?The preparations were completed and Ukraine now awaits the biggest sporting event to ever take place in the country’s history. But how many European heads of state will actually turn up for the final at the $500 million Olympic Stadium in the capital Kiev on July 1?
That will largely depend on the fate of Tymoshenko, pictured here kissing her daughter Eugenia goodbye after being convicted last year. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of several politicians watching and waiting before making a decision.That will largely depend on the fate of Tymoshenko, pictured here kissing her daughter Eugenia goodbye after being convicted last year. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of several politicians watching and waiting before making a decision.

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  • As Euro 2012 approaches, co-hosts Ukraine under fire over jailing of ex-PM
  • Yulia Tymoshenko alleges they are political charges and that she was beaten in prison
  • EU leaders are boycotting the finals over her treatment
  • CNN talks to her daughter Eugenia and asks what went wrong?

(CNN) — No one used the word reward, but the subtext was clear for all to see.

In April 2007, when Poland and Ukraine were surprisingly awarded the right to co-host the 2012 European Championship — one of international football’s top tournaments after the World Cup — both countries’ delegations exploded with joy.

For the Ukrainians it was especially poignant. At the center of the celebrations was President Viktor Yushchenko, who had come to power leading the 2004 Orange Revolution, ignited when the election battle between him and the then Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych was allegedly riddled with fraud.

Massive street protests swept away the old regime, whose last desperate attempt to cling on to power, according to supporters of Yushchenko, was a plot to poison the challenger. Yushchenko barely survived.

But survive he did, and the chance to host Euro 2012 was redemption. Ukraine was finally, post communism, moving towards democracy and the rule of law. Euro 2012 represented a chance, as the Olympics did in Seoul and Tokyo decades before, for sport to welcome Ukraine into the club of free nations.

Tymoshenko claims beatings in jail

Daughter on Tymoshenko’s jail ordeal

Former Ukrainian PM found guilty

Shevchenko wants to end on high note

“We will be able to show millions of fans the unforgettable charm of our cities and the history they have preserved so beautifully,” Yushchenko said when Ukraine’s joint bid was selected to host the tournament.

“And put on display of Slav hospitality and culture.”

A coronation

The final in Kiev on July 1, 2012, was to be the coronation. But with a month to go until Ukraine was to enjoy its moment in the sun, Yushchenko’s words ring hollow. He was voted out of power in 2010, his Orange Revolution unraveling as, according to his supporters, the new president Yanukovych — ironically the man he defeated in 2004 — tries to roll back the gains made eight years ago.

And far from highlighting Ukraine’s development, Euro 2012 has done the opposite. Instead European statesmen and women are boycotting the event as the blond heroine of the Orange Revolution, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, languishes in a prison cell thanks to what her supporters claim are spurious political charges.

Last week her family released pictures of what they say is proof that Tymoshenko was beaten up in prison, which the Ukrainian government denies.

“Her condition is worsening, her physical condition,” her daughter Eugenia Tymoshenko told CNN.

“That was after eight days of hunger strike. She was already much weaker because of the attacks when they beat her on April 20. Because of her protest her morale is very strong (but) we have asked her to stop her hunger strike.”

Tymoshenko has been in prison since October last year. She received a seven-year sentence for abuse of power over the signing of a gas deal with Russia that the current president deemed detrimental to the national interest. But few outside of Ukraine saw it as anything other than the persecution of a political rival.

“Once she was arrested, there was a whole machine that started working,” said Eugenia.

“They wanted to keep her in jail as her popularity was growing. She is now more popular. It is mostly fear that moved him and his people to keep her there until the (parliamentary) elections in October this year.”

Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has spoken out against European leaders' boycott of Ukraine's Euro 2012 matches, saying sport and politics should not mix.Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin has spoken out against European leaders’ boycott of Ukraine’s Euro 2012 matches, saying sport and politics should not mix.

The plight of Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has complained of beaten in jail by guards, has led senior politicians to say they will not attend Euro 2012 finals matches in the East European country.The plight of Ukraine’s former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who has complained of beaten in jail by guards, has led senior politicians to say they will not attend Euro 2012 finals matches in the East European country.

Her husband Oleksander (left) and their daughter Eugenia have been campaigning for better treatment of the Orange Revolution leader, who was found guilty of abusing her power when in office.Her husband Oleksander (left) and their daughter Eugenia have been campaigning for better treatment of the Orange Revolution leader, who was found guilty of abusing her power when in office.

Germany's foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said that concerns over Tymoshenko could block ratification of a political and trade deal between the EU and Ukraine.Germany’s foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said that concerns over Tymoshenko could block ratification of a political and trade deal between the EU and Ukraine.

Security fears for the June 8-July 1 tournament in Ukraine and Poland have been elevated since four explosions went off in a busy area of central Dnipropetrovsk on April 27, wounding 26 people.Security fears for the June 8-July 1 tournament in Ukraine and Poland have been elevated since four explosions went off in a busy area of central Dnipropetrovsk on April 27, wounding 26 people.

Police officers walk past a giant model of "Tango 12," the official match ball of the Euro 2012 football tournament, during a patrol in Dnipropetrovsk on April 29. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks. Police officers walk past a giant model of “Tango 12,” the official match ball of the Euro 2012 football tournament, during a patrol in Dnipropetrovsk on April 29. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb attacks.

Putin criticizes Euro 2012 boycottPutin criticizes Euro 2012 boycott

All 16 competing nations at Euro 2012 will head to Poland and Ukraine next year dreaming of reaching the final at Kiev's Olympic Stadium on July 1. The venue in the Ukrainian capital has been renovated ahead of the championship, having originally been constructed in the 1920's. In addtion to the final, the Olympic Stadium will also host a quarterfinal and some Group D matches.All 16 competing nations at Euro 2012 will head to Poland and Ukraine next year dreaming of reaching the final at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium on July 1. The venue in the Ukrainian capital has been renovated ahead of the championship, having originally been constructed in the 1920′s. In addtion to the final, the Olympic Stadium will also host a quarterfinal and some Group D matches.

The Donbass Arena in Donetsk is home to Ukrainian champions and 2009 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk. Opened in August 2009, the stadium will host a semifinal, quarterfinal and Group D matches.The Donbass Arena in Donetsk is home to Ukrainian champions and 2009 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar Donetsk. Opened in August 2009, the stadium will host a semifinal, quarterfinal and Group D matches.

The National Stadium in the Polish capital of Warsaw has a capacity of over 58,000 and will play host to a semifinal, a quarterfinal and Group A matches. Euro 2012 will kick-off at the newly-built arena on June 8.The National Stadium in the Polish capital of Warsaw has a capacity of over 58,000 and will play host to a semifinal, a quarterfinal and Group A matches. Euro 2012 will kick-off at the newly-built arena on June 8.

Work began on the 43,000-seater Arena Gdansk in 2008, with the stadium now the home of Polish team Lechia Gdansk having opened in August 2011. The stadium will host a quarterfinal and three Group C matches.Work began on the 43,000-seater Arena Gdansk in 2008, with the stadium now the home of Polish team Lechia Gdansk having opened in August 2011. The stadium will host a quarterfinal and three Group C matches.

The Ukrayina Stadium is home to Ukrainian outfit Karpaty Lviv and is pictured here during an explosive opening ceremony in October 2011. The arena holds just under 35,000 fans and will be the venue for three Group B ties.The Ukrayina Stadium is home to Ukrainian outfit Karpaty Lviv and is pictured here during an explosive opening ceremony in October 2011. The arena holds just under 35,000 fans and will be the venue for three Group B ties.

The Kharkiv Stadium is the home ground of Ukrainian team Metalist Kharkiv and was renovated ahead of next year's tournament. The venue for three Group B matches, the ground can hold 38,000 fans.The Kharkiv Stadium is the home ground of Ukrainian team Metalist Kharkiv and was renovated ahead of next year’s tournament. The venue for three Group B matches, the ground can hold 38,000 fans.

The Miejski Stadium was originally built in 1980, but the arena in the Polish city of Poznan has been updated for Euro 2012. It is the home of Lech Poznan and will stage three Group C matches.The Miejski Stadium was originally built in 1980, but the arena in the Polish city of Poznan has been updated for Euro 2012. It is the home of Lech Poznan and will stage three Group C matches.

The Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw holds 42,000 fans and will be the venue for three Group A clashes. Home to Polish team Slask Wroclaw, the arena was opened in September.The Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw holds 42,000 fans and will be the venue for three Group A clashes. Home to Polish team Slask Wroclaw, the arena was opened in September.

Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv
Municipal Stadium, Wroclaw

The stadiums of Euro 2012The stadiums of Euro 2012

The Olympic Stadium in Kiev has been revamped at an estimated cost of $681 million, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. It opened on November 11 with a game between Ukraine and Germany.

The Olympic Stadium in Kiev has been revamped at an estimated cost of $681 million, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. It opened on November 11 with a game between Ukraine and Germany.

Ukrainian fans are known for creating a formidable atmosphere in their own stadiums. Here, Dynamo Kiev's fans hold flares during a match between their team and rivals Shakhtar Donetsk.Ukrainian fans are known for creating a formidable atmosphere in their own stadiums. Here, Dynamo Kiev’s fans hold flares during a match between their team and rivals Shakhtar Donetsk.

CNN's Pedro Pinto talks to Ukraine's deputy prime minister Boris Kolesnikov in the brand new Lviv Stadium, during his whirlwind day visiting all four stadiums that will host matches in the country.

CNN’s Pedro Pinto talks to Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Boris Kolesnikov in the brand new Lviv Stadium, during his whirlwind day visiting all four stadiums that will host matches in the country.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (L) shakes hands with Michel Platini on a recent visit to the country by UEFA's president. Platini said in 2008 that Ukraine needed to "wake up" and "get going" after a series of delays.Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych (L) shakes hands with Michel Platini on a recent visit to the country by UEFA’s president. Platini said in 2008 that Ukraine needed to “wake up” and “get going” after a series of delays.

Platini and deputy prime minister Boris Kolesnikov inspect work on a new terminal at Donetsk airport. The improvement work, insisted on by European football's governing body, comes at a cost of $412m, according to the Ukrainian government.Platini and deputy prime minister Boris Kolesnikov inspect work on a new terminal at Donetsk airport. The improvement work, insisted on by European football’s governing body, comes at a cost of $412m, according to the Ukrainian government.

Whistle-stop tour of Ukraine

Euro 2012: Poland and Ukraine race to be readyEuro 2012: Poland and Ukraine race to be ready

“It’s just political repression and they have moved to physical destruction. That has become critical. My mother is now on hunger strike because other political prisoners are suffering in jail with no medical help.”

Political controversy

The pictures of Tymoshenko, baring her bruises to the camera, have created a firestorm in Europe’s corridors of power. When it emerged that Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel was considering a boycott of the event to protest Tymoshenko’s treatment, other EU leaders followed suit.

EU president Herman Van Rompuy has said he won’t attend — as has Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, who less than 12 months ago had met with President Yanukovych and was presented with an official Euro 2012 match ball. The governments of Austria and Belgium have all said they will not be attending. Poland’s opposition, who were in power when the Euros were awarded, has called for Ukraine’s matches to be moved to Warsaw. The British and German governments are re-evaluating their positions.

Even some of the players have spoken out. Germany captain Philipp Lahm told newspaper Der Spiegel that he did not find his “views of democratic fundamental rights, human rights, personal freedom or press freedom to be reflected in the present political situation in Ukraine.”

While Russian premier Vladimir Putin has criticized the boycotts — stating that “you can’t mix politics, business and other issues with sport” — and the Ukrainian foreign ministry has condemned the outcry for causing “damage to the interests of millions of ordinary Ukrainians that vote for various political parties or are not interested in politics at all,” others point the finger of blame for the crisis at the Ukrainian government.

“There has been progress in many ways and the last round of elections that elected Yanukovych was largely free and fair,” admitted Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch.

“But we have particular concerns about what Yanukovych has done in prosecuting his political opponents. Few (Ukrainian government figures) have spoken out about her (Tymoshenko’s) mistreatment and there’s clear evidence that the charges against her are politically motivated.”

Should fans boycott?

While Human Rights Watch stops short of calling for a fan boycott of the tournament, it does support moves by political leaders to make a stand.

We will be able to show millions of fans the unforgettable charm of our cities
Former president Viktor Yushchenko

“Should politicians watch matches? We think they should speak out clearly. If they decide to not see a match … we welcome that that is a clear signal,” Williamson said.

“One could see a more extreme case with China and the (2008) Olympics. There’s a clear risk that by allowing such countries to host such sporting contests, it legitimizes their actions.”

Yet the scandal has highlighted a much more fundamental tension at the heart of Ukrainian society: whether, as those that led the Orange Revolution contest, Ukraine’s future lays westwards, towards the EU; or whether its future is in the east and with Russia, the direction in which the current president is moving.

“The story of the European Championships was supposed to be bridge building between the two different Europes, cooperation across borders between east and west,” argued Dr. Andrew Wilson, an expert in Ukrainian politics at Britain’s University College London.

“But no, the story now is the good performance of Poland. Their success is in stark contrast with the problems in Ukraine.”

He also suggested that the criticism that has followed the Tymoshenko case could push many Ukrainians away from EU integration, and towards the Kremlin’s sphere of influence.

“Yes the boycott will have an effect,” Wilson said.

“Prestige matters to this guy Yanukovych. They hoped the Euros would give them prestige. The argument that Ukrainians will turn to Russia is one made by Ukrainians. They say: ‘Criticize us after we’ve made it, not before.’ “

Not everyone is sympathetic to Tymoshenko’s plight in Ukraine. President Yanukovych has repeatedly said that there was a criminal case to answer for. “If Tymoshenko were looking for a compromise she would tell the truth to the Ukrainian people about why she broke the law,” he told British newspaper The Times in a bellicose interview last year.

It’s just political repression and they have moved to physical destruction
Yulia Tymoshenko’s daughter Eugenia

Orange fatigue

And others point to Tymoshenko’s poor political performance while prime minister for the lack of sympathy she has received in Ukraine.

“The Orange Revolution was a huge disappointment,” explained Wilson.

“Media improved, civil society is stronger, but the Orange leaders fought like rats in a sack, especially Tymoshenko and former President Yushchenko. After five years of infighting, there was Orange fatigue.”

Others in Ukraine point to the the failure of arguably the most infamous sporting boycott in history: the decision by the U.S. to snub the 1980 Moscow Olympics in protest at the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets returned the favor four years after for the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

“The experience of boycotting the Olympic Games of 1980 in Moscow by the West and the counter strike (by the) Socialist camp of the Games in Los Angeles did not influence political events too much but spoiled the careers of some great athletes,” says Oleg Zadernovsky, a Ukrainian sports journalist who writes for World Soccer magazine.

“The whole country expects something similar to a game of football with two halves.

The issue of moving the tournament [to Poland] was not considered even theoretically
Markiyan Lubkivskyi

“At first Ukrainians would like to host with honor and dignity the biggest ever sporting event on its territory, while the second half will start in October this year when many of them will go to the ballot boxes to support opposition parties who promise to free Yulia Tymoshenko.”

Yet for all the pressure, the tournament is unlikely to be moved. In a statement, the head of Ukraine’s Euro 2012 organizing committee Markiyan Lubkivskyi admitted that while “there are certain appeals by European politicians to UEFA” over the issue of Tymoshenko as well as a myriad of other security concerns, “the issue of moving the tournament (to Poland) was not considered even theoretically. It is impossible from a technical point of view or otherwise.”

But as the political row rages, Tymoshenko remains in jail on hunger strike as Ukraine’s reputation crumbles. What once seemed like a reward now looks like a curse. Eugenia Tymoshenko believes that the blame rests with one man.

“The political boycott is the result of the government and the actions of President Yanukovych that are against European standards that the EU wants to see,” she said.

“The previous government had given (Ukraine) this wondrous opportunity for this celebration of sport with the European Championships.

“And I think European leaders do not want to be see (the president) use this politically, using repression and torture against political opponents.”

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May 17

New fashions inspired by New Delhi

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Trelise Cooper, pictured here at her home in Auckland, is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer. Having established herself with a range of popular boutique stores in the 1980s, the New Zealander went on to design clothes for the likes of Liv Tyler, Julia Roberts and even the cast of U.S. sitcom Sex and the City.Trelise Cooper, pictured here at her home in Auckland, is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer. Having established herself with a range of popular boutique stores in the 1980s, the New Zealander went on to design clothes for the likes of Liv Tyler, Julia Roberts and even the cast of U.S. sitcom Sex and the City.
A model exhibits clothes from Cooper's recent Spring range. Noted for her bold use of pattern, attention to detail and intricate stitching, Cooper has ascended the fashion world despite never having trained as either a designer or seamstress.

A model exhibits clothes from Cooper’s recent Spring range. Noted for her bold use of pattern, attention to detail and intricate stitching, Cooper has ascended the fashion world despite never having trained as either a designer or seamstress.

The view from Cooper's beach-side home along the Auckland coast. Of her home country, Cooper says it's a source of great creativity and freshness. "Being the first people to see the sun rise each morning, gives us a sort of freshness, an edginess," she said.The view from Cooper’s beach-side home along the Auckland coast. Of her home country, Cooper says it’s a source of great creativity and freshness. “Being the first people to see the sun rise each morning, gives us a sort of freshness, an edginess,” she said.
The dusty heat of New Delhi proved a sharp contrast to the breezy Auckland air. For Cooper, the city's "Red Fort" (pictured) epitomizes the flamboyant yet earthy Indian style. The dusty heat of New Delhi proved a sharp contrast to the breezy Auckland air. For Cooper, the city’s “Red Fort” (pictured) epitomizes the flamboyant yet earthy Indian style.
During her journey, Cooper strolled the streets of New Delhi, taking inspiration from the exotic, bright colors and the traditional stitch-work of the local garments.During her journey, Cooper strolled the streets of New Delhi, taking inspiration from the exotic, bright colors and the traditional stitch-work of the local garments.
Cooper described the crowded shopping district as "exciting and chaotic and noisy and dusty and smoky and hot." This, however, was small price to pay for the astonishing array of fabrics and accessories pouring from every street-side stall and shop. Cooper described the crowded shopping district as “exciting and chaotic and noisy and dusty and smoky and hot.” This, however, was small price to pay for the astonishing array of fabrics and accessories pouring from every street-side stall and shop.
The New Zealander was thrilled to find this particular outlet, calling it "a treasure trove of fabrics and other goodies," including textiles, ribbons, bows, buttons and beads. She took samples back with her to her fashion studio in Auckland.The New Zealander was thrilled to find this particular outlet, calling it “a treasure trove of fabrics and other goodies,” including textiles, ribbons, bows, buttons and beads. She took samples back with her to her fashion studio in Auckland.
After months of preparation, Cooper's "Fusion Journey" creations were ready for public view. This dress, with its gem-like embellishments, was hand-beaded in Delhi.After months of preparation, Cooper’s “Fusion Journey” creations were ready for public view. This dress, with its gem-like embellishments, was hand-beaded in Delhi.
As this striking rainbow print illustrates, Cooper drew heavily from the Indian palette of vibrant colours to create her new line.

As this striking rainbow print illustrates, Cooper drew heavily from the Indian palette of vibrant colours to create her new line.

Here, the detailed embroidery of the fabric mirrors the intricate henna patterns adorning many Indian women's hands

Here, the detailed embroidery of the fabric mirrors the intricate henna patterns adorning many Indian women’s hands

This fully sequinned dress, meanwhile, is inspired by the azure blue color of the Indian Ocean.

This fully sequinned dress, meanwhile, is inspired by the azure blue color of the Indian Ocean.

Most of all, Cooper returned to New Zealand inspired by the expert craftsmanship she encountered. This dress, with its ruffles and appliqué, was created using the delicate hand-stitching techniques still practiced across India. Most of all, Cooper returned to New Zealand inspired by the expert craftsmanship she encountered. This dress, with its ruffles and appliqué, was created using the delicate hand-stitching techniques still practiced across India.

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  • New Zealand fashion designer Trelise Cooper flew to New Delhi seeking new styles
  • Cooper was drawn to the city’s tradition of flamboyantly colored clothes
  • She says that the journey helped her create a line of clothing fused with opulence and romance

Editor’s note: Part culture show, part travel show, over six weeks Fusion Journeys takes six stars of the creative world to a location of their choice. There, they will create something new inspired by their experience.

(CNN) — With a star-studded client list that includes Catherine Zeta-Jones, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Roberts and Michelle Pfeiffer, Trelise Cooper is an internationally known fashion designer.

Starting out with a boutique store in Auckland, New Zealand, during the mid-1980s, Cooper’s ascent onto the fashion stage — and the front covers of Vogue and Marie Claire — is made more remarkable by the fact that she never received any formal training as either a designer or seamstress.

Instead, Cooper relied on her self-confessed “obsession” for detail, as well as a natural eye for fashion. “I was born a fashion designer” she says, and soon after she set up shop, her clothes acquired a reputation for their bold use of pattern and intricate stitching.

Cooper took up the “Fusion Journey” challenge to travel from New Zealand to New Delhi, India’s capital. Although it’s a city she had been to on business many times before, she says that she’d never allowed herself the time to study its traditional dress in earnest.

See more Fusion Journeys

There she was tasked with creating a new fashion line that would combine her own sophisticated modern style with the vibrant, brightly colored traditions of Indian dress-making.

In her own words, Cooper retraces the footsteps of her Fusion Journey.

Fashion designer Trelise Cooper
Fashion designer Trelise Cooper

Trelise Cooper: I absolutely adore the historical aspect of clothing. My ranges are full of influences from 19th-century French, English, even American vintage styles. So it’s no surprise I have always enjoyed combing through flea markets in small towns and finding rare antique gems to steal some inspiration.

I’m also obsessed with detail, so when I find a Victorian gown or a 50s bridal slip that I like, then it’s important for me to be able to emulate the exact stitching, embroidery or beading used at the time. In the West, unfortunately, most of our expert hand-stitching traditions have been lost — the skills have not been passed on and the seamstress geniuses from the couture houses of Europe have not been replaced.

That is why I’m often traveling to India. It’s one of the very best places in the world to find that expertise still thriving. From one village to the next you find whole families, generations, that have their own specialties of stitch work.

Honestly, I can give them any old historical piece that I’ve found and they will either take it away and recreate it almost perfectly, or they’ll say “hmmm … I don’t know this stitching, but I know a place nearby that does.” It’s a fashion designer’s dream!

So in one sense, I’ve been fusing my clothes with Indian influences for a while. However, I think this was the first time I’ve traveled to India with a conscious intention to create a fusion of styles: their own traditional dress with my more modern, western creations.

Walking through the streets, you see color combinations that you’d never imagine would work
Trelise Cooper, fashion designer

I just love the color and the vibrancy that is India. New Delhi is exciting and chaotic and noisy and dusty and smoky and hot. Everything is so full of intense color and I realized that, on a subconscious level at least, I’ve been influenced by Indian style … In fact, when it comes to bold use of colors and the use of these rich, deep dyes, how can anyone deny the huge influence of India on fashion around the world?

Read related: Dancing to the music of love in Buenos Aires

Walking through the streets, you see color combinations that you’d never imagine would work. I recall a beautiful woman wearing a sari in bright, radiant pink mixed with a lime green print. I mean, lime and pink! It sounds garish, but on her, with the quality of the dye and the way the colors had been combined it looked absolutely stunning.

We made our way to a shop that I can only describe as a treasure trove of fabrics and other goodies. This was the place to find all the accessories, textiles, ribbons, bows, buttons, and beads that I could take back to my studio in Auckland to use as inspiration for the final creations.

There were ideas there, old and new, that I’d never thought about. Already I could envisage opportunities to use all sorts of different laces and braids, detailed examples of hand stitching, with some other antique dresses we’d picked up from a local supplier.

Much as I love them personally, I don’t sell things like saris — and I never would — it’s not a style that would appeal to the tastes of my particular customers. However, what I took back to New Zealand, was their techniques, their intense celebratory colors, their detailed embellishments, their expert use of beads and sequins.

I worked on the new line for many months, and these are the elements I hope I managed to incorporate into them. I think they’ve added an opulence, a romance. But I’ll only know I have finished the creative process when someone comes in and says that, no matter what, they have to have it.

The garment takes them on a journey, and so my journey with the garment has finished.

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May 17

‘A seat at the table’ costs $5,000

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off
George Clooney, right, talks with Chris Wallace on April 28. Clooney's fundraiser for Obama raised $15 million in one night.
George Clooney, right, talks with Chris Wallace on April 28. Clooney’s fundraiser for Obama raised $15 million in one night.

  • LZ Granderson: As of March, Obama and Romney had raised combined $300 million
  • LZ asks, since when did candidates need this much money to campaign?
  • Limits should be put on the time and money spent to win office, he writes
  • LZ: So many people don’t have jobs, and we’re fundraising for the rich

Editor’s note: LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly column for CNN.com, was named journalist of the year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and is a 2011 Online Journalism Award finalist for commentary. He is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter: @locs_n_laughs.

Grand Rapids, Michigan (CNN) — President Obama appeared at two recent fundraisers with some serious sticker shock.

About 200 people ponied up at least $5,000 per ticket for an event hosted by Ricky Martin. That was followed by a function at a private home where 60 people spent $38,500 each to get through the door.

Just last week, Obama — with George Clooney — raised $15 million in one night. This makes me wonder how in the hell our political process became so distorted that Obama needs this much money to run for re-election. I thought we were broke? And yet, at the end of March, Obama and his presumed general election opponent, Mitt Romney, had raised nearly a combined $300 million, almost enough to fund Planned Parenthood’s annual budget by themselves.

Forget Wall Street, it’s the campaign trail that needs to be occupied.

LZ Granderson

The median income in the United States is about $50,000, so I doubt very many 99 percenters are able to meet the $75,000 minimum that was expected at a recent Romney fundraiser. Did you know the goal of the RNC is to raise $800 million by November? Imagine how many families could be helped if just half of that was used to train people for the new job market, as opposed to being spent to help one guy get hired?

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter and Facebook.com/cnnopinion

Face it, the president and Romney may have different political and economic views, but they are both propped up by highly affluent power brokers who are expecting big returns for the big checks they are writing.

This is why the worst thing to happen to our process was the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which allows corporations (and unions) to spend unlimited funds to promote a candidate. This is akin to handing the keys of a bakery to the Cookie Monster. Super PACs are not just involved in shaping dialogue. They get involved with shaping policy, which inevitably makes the good of the people secondary to the good of the deepest pockets.

We don’t just need campaign reform, we need roadblocks to prevent special interest groups from turning the democratic process into more of a sham that it already is.

Let the Supreme Court keep its ridiculous ruling, but set a limit on the amount of money candidates can raise and spend on their campaigns. Require all ads and debates to be aired on public television, and then cap the number of hours each party is allowed to use during the general election.

By putting it on public television, we stop large media conglomerates from profiting from the process. So, ideally Obama and Romney would both get $10 million and 40 hours of advertisement to state their case.

Let’s take away the $200 million war chests that Obama has been able to amass in both 2008 and 2012, and force him and future candidates to find a way to persuade the country to vote for them without relying on their ability to outspend their opponent.

I know, I know, Romney wouldn’t even be in the position he’s in without outspending — and dare I say, bullying — his opponents.

By leveling the economic playing field, our politicians have a chance to return to being representatives of the people, not just the ones who know the right people or make the right promises.

Before making the rounds in New York on Monday, President Obama tweeted a sentence from the commencement speech he gave at Barnard College: “Don’t just get involved. Fight for your seat at the table. Better yet, fight for your seat at the head of the table.” He left out the part about needing $5,000 to get in the door so you can even see the table.

But I guess those messy details are easy to overlook in a country with an 8.1% unemployment rate, whose leaders still find it appropriate to hold fundraisers for rich people.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.

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May 17

‘Social Network’ writer to pen Jobs film

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off
Aaron Sorkin, seen at the Academy Awards ceremony in February, will write and direct a new film on Steve Jobs.
Aaron Sorkin, seen at the Academy Awards ceremony in February, will write and direct a new film on Steve Jobs.

  • Aaron Sorkin will write and direct biopic on Steve Jobs
  • Sorkin is the writer of “The West Wing” and “The Social Network”
  • The movie will be based on Walter Isaacson’s book “Steve Jobs”

(CNN) — Aaron Sorkin, the celebrated screenwriter whose punchy dialogue propelled TV’s “The West Wing” and the Facebook movie “The Social Network,” will write and direct an upcoming film on the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

Sony Pictures has confirmed that Sorkin will adapt “Steve Jobs,” the in-depth biography of the tech icon that was written by Walter Isaacson and released shortly after Jobs’ death last year.

“Steve Jobs’ story is unique: he was one of the most revolutionary and influential men not just of our time but of all time,” Amy Pascal, co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said in a written release.

“There is no writer working in Hollywood today who is more capable of capturing such an extraordinary life for the screen than Aaron Sorkin; in his hands, we’re confident that the film will be everything that Jobs himself was: captivating, entertaining, and polarizing.”

Steve Jobs in 2005: No one wants to die

The legacy of Steve Jobs

Sorkin won an Academy Award for adapting “The Social Network,” which in 2010 propelled Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to household-name status. His other work includes “A Few Good Men,” “Moneyball,” “Charlie Wilson’s War,” “The West Wing” and “Sports Night.”

The yet-unnamed Steve Jobs film will be Sorkin’s first movie-directing gig.

Sony reportedly wanted Sorkin for the film and began courting him immediately after securing the rights to Isaacson’s book late last year.

Sorkin actually knew Jobs and wrote a piece for The Daily Beast about his memories of Jobs after his death. He wrote that he and Jobs had developed a “phone friendship” that led Jobs to invite him to write a movie for Pixar (the animation studio Jobs ran) and to tour Apple.

“I told him I’d take him up on it and I never did,” Sorkin wrote. “But I still keep thinking about that Pixar movie. And for me, that’s Steve’s legacy. That, and the fact that I wrote this on a Mac that I loved taking out of the box.”

Another Jobs movie is also in the works. An independent film starring “That ’70s Show” alum Ashton Kutcher is scheduled to begin filming in May.

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May 17

Indian EPL dream turns sour

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off
Steve Kean's Blackburn were relegated from the English Premier League on a rainy night at Ewood Park
Steve Kean’s Blackburn were relegated from the English Premier League on a rainy night at Ewood Park

  • Blackburn Rovers are relegated from the English Premier League
  • Rovers lose 1-0 at home to Wigan Athletic, who secured their top flight status
  • The match was dominated by protests by Blackburn’s fans against club’s owners
  • Many blame Indian firm Venky’s and manager Steve Kean for their relegation

(CNN) — Their Indian owners once talked about pushing Blackburn Rovers into the elite tier of the English Premier League but just 18 months after their takeover, poultry giants Venky’s are contemplating relegation.

Monday’s 1-0 home defeat to Wigan Athletic condemned the former Premier League champions to the second tier amid angry scenes at their Ewood Park home.

The club’s Scottish manager Steve Kean, who has been subjected to abuse by supporters all season, had to be escorted from the pitch by police as a group of fans invaded the playing surface.

After the game Kean insisted he was the man to restore Blackburn’s status, telling the match broadcaster: “We’re absolutely devastated. The players are numb inside the dressing room.

“We felt as though we’d done a very good job tonight. It’s a massive setback but we’ll be back to fight another day.

“What we have to do is regroup. We have to add some established players and we have to look to keep as many of the players together as possible.”

Rovers’ relegation marked a stark contrast to the bright optimism that greeted their takeover back in November 2010 by Venky’s, the first Indian owners of a Premier League club.

The players are numb inside the dressing room. It’s a massive setback but we’ll be back to fight another day
Steve Kean, Blackburn Rovers manager

Back then, they talked of finishing in the top four in the division, and linked themselves with high-profile players like Brazil’s World Cup-winning attacker Ronaldinho.

But after modest spending and a turbulent season, which also saw their manager banned for drink driving, a late goal from Wigan’s Paraguayan defender Antolin Alcaraz sealed their fate.

Upon the final whistle, a group of fans took to the pitch as Kean was bundled off the field by security staff and a handful of police. Others in the stands chanted: “We want Venky’s out.”

Blackburn won their only Premier League title in 1995 but have failed to challenge since. They were relegated in 1999 but bounced back under former Liverpool midfielder Graeme Souness two years later.

As for Wigan, victory secured their Premier League status and confounded a legion of critics who had written them off as doomed after they lost eight matches in a row at the start of the season.

But a recent run of six wins in eight games, which has seen them beat Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle, has cemented their place in the top flight for another year.

Meanwhile in France, Montpellier reclaimed their position at the top of the Ligue 1 from big-spending Paris Saint-Germain after a 2-0 victory at Stade Rennes.

A strike from Senegal striker Souleymane Camara was added to by an own goal from Benoit Costil, as Montpellier moved three points clear of PSG with two games remaining.

Lille kept up their faint hopes of retaining their crown with a 3-0 win over Caen. Tulio De Melo’s double ensured they ended the evening five points behind Montpellier and two behind PSG.

Bordeaux, 2009 champions, won 4-2 at AJ Auxerre, helped by two goals from Yoan Gouffran while Sébastien Roudet’s goal secured a 1-0 win for Sochaux at home to AS Nancy Lorraine.

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May 06

Bipartison hope for immigrant kids?

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has met with other Latino legislators on a plan to give legal status to some children of immigrants.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has met with other Latino legislators on a plan to give legal status to some children of immigrants.

  • Latino legislators met recently to seek progress on status of “DREAM’ers”
  • Ruben Navarrette says it’s encouraging that they’re talking about a compromise
  • He asks: Will political parties let that happen, or kill it to preserve a campaign issue?
  • Navarrette: Marco Rubio’s proposal isn’t perfect but it does show progress

Editor’s note: Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a CNN.com contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist.

San Diego, California (CNN) — In Washington, a lot of the meetings that take place between lawmakers amount to nothing. But recently, there was a get-together that was really something.     

The participants: Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Illinois, and Charles Gonzales, D-Texas, along with Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, and Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey.     

The problem: What this country should do with so-called DREAM’ers, undocumented young people who were brought here by their parents as children and who face the threat of deportation.

Ruben Navarrette Jr.

One proposed solution that didn’t go anywhere was the DREAM Act, a bill that politicians passed around like a hot potato for more than a decade. It would offer legal status and a pathway to citizenship to anyone who goes to college or joins the military.

The good news is that there was bipartisan support; the last time it was put to a vote, in December 2010, a slew of Senate Democrats voted for it, but so did three Senate Republicans — Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Richard Lugar of Indiana and Bob Bennett of Utah. The bad news is that there is bipartisan opposition; a slew of Republicans opposed the legislation, but so did five Senate Democrats — Jon Tester and Max Baucus of Montana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Clearly we need a new approach. Enter Rubio. The Cuban-American GOP rock star and potential GOP vice presidential nominee is floating the idea of a modified DREAM Act that would keep undocumented immigrant students from being deported by giving them legal status in the form of a student visa followed by a work visa.

The idea was originally shared with me about five months ago by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who, along with her colleague, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Arizona, was eager to find a way to break the stalemate over the DREAM Act and help get these young people out of legal limbo and on with their lives.

Now Hutchison and Kyl have faded to the background, and Rubio is shopping the idea. No formal proposal has been released, but that hasn’t stopped pundits and politicos from voicing their opinions about the concept.

Under the proposal, there is no yellow brick road to citizenship, but nor is there a roadblock. The young people would just have to find their own way there, if they even wanted to be U.S. citizens. Not every immigrant does.

You know who does want to give these students automatic citizenship? Democrats, who are salivating over the prospect of perhaps hundreds of thousands of new voters with a grudge against Republicans. And you know who is dead-set against giving them citizenship? Republicans, who want to avoid the ire of these newly minted voters.

There’s a catch. Democrats may think these kids are adorable, but they don’t want to adopt them and become known as the “illegal immigrant party.” I suspect that’s the real reason five Democrats helped kill the DREAM Act.

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The fact that Rubio is now attached to the proposal is a mixed blessing. Rubio might have enough leverage within his party to persuade some Republicans who voted against the old DREAM Act to support DREAM Act 2.0. The bad news is that Democrats are afraid of Rubio, and many of them have no interest in supporting any bill that makes the rising star look good.

Given all that, I’ll bet the Latino “hangout” on the DREAM Act was not exactly an event that was officially sanctioned by either party. So what? That’s a good thing. This is an encouraging new model. Let’s hope we see more of these efforts to informally reach across party lines and forge bipartisan solutions on a variety of public policy issues. 

Providing legal status to undocumented college students and members of the armed forces is one issue where the partisan lines are blurred and the politics are very complicated. There are no good guys and bad guys, just both parties pushing their own interests without caring about what happens to a bunch of undocumented students.         

Someone needs to care. It seems these four lawmakers do. What Rubio has in mind might not be perfect, but it’s the only entree on the menu. If the Latino Democrats think they can make it better, they should make suggestions. Then both sides should go back to their respective parties and pressure their colleagues to come onboard.

It matters to the deliberations that these lawmakers are all Latino. Regardless of party, whether they realize it or not, they have a natural kinship. A Republican like Rubio has a cultural connection to Democrats like Gutierrez, Menendez and Gonzales. That is something to build on. These guys might argue when they talk politics, but at least they can argue in Spanish.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ruben Navarrette Jr.

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May 06

Homegrown terror isn’t just Islamist

By jeanmolinaro0Comments Off
Suspects in Cleveland bomb plot: Brandon Baxter, Anthony Hayne, Connor Stevens, Joshua Stafford and Douglas Wright.
Suspects in Cleveland bomb plot: Brandon Baxter, Anthony Hayne, Connor Stevens, Joshua Stafford and Douglas Wright.

  • Risa Brooks says foiled Ohio bombing plot reminder of diversity of U.S. terror
  • She says nowadays Americans mistakenly associate homegrown terror just with jihad
  • She says a 1999-2009 study found most plots white supremacist, anti-government
  • Brooks: It’s crucial to focus efforts on extremists of all kinds, not just Islamist

Editor’s note: Editor’s note: Risa Brooks is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Marquette University and author of “Muslim ‘Homegrown’ Terrorism in the United States: How Serious is the Threat.”

(CNN) — Monday’s arrest of five men accused of aiming to bomb an Ohio bridge raises disturbing questions about the attraction to violence of some contemporary anarchists. But it also offers critical lessons to Americans about the nature of the domestic terrorist threat they face?a threat more diverse in its ideological origins than commonly appreciated.

Since 9/11 the country has been concerned primarily with terrorist threats from militants inspired by a violent jihadist ideology, like that associated with al Qaeda. In recent years fears have focused on Muslim “homegrown” terrorism, which typically involves plots in the United States initiated by American residents and citizens who are inspired by jihadi ideology, but lack formal connections to al Qaeda or foreign militant organizations.

Muslim homegrown terrorists may draw the attention of a nation still traumatized by 9/11, but such plots are no more numerous or serious than those perpetrated by other domestic terrorists in the United States. As the country’s history and Monday’s arrests underscore, extremism comes in many incarnations. Focusing only on terrorism perpetrated by American Muslims misrepresents the scope and nature of domestic terrorism in the United States. It risks leaving us vulnerable to attacks from other sorts of violent idealogues and promotes a hurtful?and pointless?tension between Muslim-Americans and other Americans.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter and Facebook/CNNOpinion.

Risa Brooks

There have been many instances of non-jihadist terror in the U.S. Some may recall that in the late 1960s and 1970s the country faced an onslaught of bombings and attacks by social revolutionary groups and Puerto Rican nationalists. That violent era eventually ebbed, but then in the 1980s and 1990s the country witnessed an upsurge of threats from right-wing militants.

While Timothy McVeigh’s 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was unusual in its lethality, it was unfortunately far from the only plot hatched by extremists on the right. The Southern Poverty Law Center documents 75 plots, of varying degrees of operational advancement, between July 1995 and June 2009 and an additional 22 from 2009 through November 2011.

Alleged plot to blow up bridge foiled

5 held in bomb plot on Ohio bridge

A study by the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions, a research consortium in North Carolina, found that from 1999-2009, in the United States there were 17 al Qaeda-inspired plots undertaken, 20 plots initiated by white supremacists and 17 by violent anti-government militants. Recent attacks include the 2009 shooting of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the murder by “sovereign citizens” in 2010 of two Arkansas police officers at a traffic stop. In January 2011, a bomb laced with rat poison was found in a backpack along the route of a Martin Luther King Jr. parade in Spokane, Washington.

Eco-terrorists and animal rights activists too have perpetrated their share of bombings and attacks in the United States, especially in the last decade. While these groups aim to avoid civilian deaths, accidents can happen and produce sobering acts of violence.

Add to the mix militants inspired by jihadist ideology. In the decade following 9/11, by my own accounting, there have been 18 plots in which militants have taken at least some preliminary operational steps to realize their deadly mission. Like the alleged anarchist attack, 12 have involved informants and federal agents whose presence can help advance plots that otherwise may have remained aspirational.

All but two of these plots have failed or been foiled by law enforcement: Army Major Nadil Malik Hasan’s 2009 Fort Hood attack and a lesser known shooting, also in 2009, outside a Little Rock army recruiting center that harmed two soldiers. The perpetrators of all 18 homegrown plots had been known to law enforcement before their attempted attacks, with the exception of the May 2010 Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, whose own failings as a bomb-maker, despite his overseas training, underscore the challenges of successfully executing attacks in the contemporary United States.

Some may recoil at grouping right-wing, single-issue, and left-wing terrorists with militant jihadists. Yet, there are several benefits to promoting a more comprehensive assessment of the domestic terrorist threat. First, it ensures that society remains vigilant against threats from different sub-groups and that law enforcement has the support and bureaucratic incentives to do the same. As Norwegians learned with the 2011 attacks by Anders Behring Breivik, neglecting the threat from the right (or other ideological extremes) can leave society dangerously vulnerable.

Second, focusing our attention on domestic terrorism of all types and not just that generated by Muslim Americans can help heal the social rifts generated by 9/11. Singling out Muslim militants when we talk about terrorism in the U.S. adds to the mutual alienation of Muslims and Americans of other backgrounds. By unifying in opposition to extremism of all types, we demonstrate to ourselves and to our terrorist adversaries abroad that we remain true to American values and principles.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Risa Brooks.

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