Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/YppNeWqO7jk/
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Thursday, 30 May 2013
Spring Camp Day Two?Car Rides, Cabins and Carbohydrates
China Doesn't Care if Its 'Digitalized' Military Cyberwar Drill Scares You
In the face of fears from President Obama to the Pentagon and across the globe about the increasing military might behind Chinese hacking, China's state news agency announced Wednesday that the nation's People's Liberation Army "will conduct an exercise next month to test new types of combat forces including units using digital technology amid efforts to adjust to informationalized war." You know, right after Obama and Chinese President?Xi Jinping are meeting about the state of, among other things, a cyberwar going on underneath their noses.
RELATED: China Is Winning the Cyber War Because They Hacked U.S. Plans for Real War
The new report from Xinhua news agency?adds that the drill, taking place on a large military training field and not some underground hack-a-thon bunker,?"will be the first time a PLA exercise has focused on combat forces including digitalized units, special operations forces, army aviation and electronic counter forces." The terms "digitalized unit" and "electronic counter forces" don't make it at all clear what China's military has planned, but then again, no country is ever going to reveal its full cyberwarfare capabilities in detail ? and it's not like it's the first time the Chinese have tested the military reaches of their digital warfare capabilities. Indeed, the U.S. was game to play along on more than one occasion. Last year it was reported that the U.S. and China had secretly engaged in at least two cyber war games in 2011, "designed to help prevent a sudden military escalation between the two superpowers if either felt they were being targeted," as ZDNet's Emil Potralinski reported.?"In the first, both sides had to describe what they would do if they were attacked by a sophisticated computer virus, such as?Stuxnet. In the second, they had to describe their reaction if the attack was known to have been launched from the other side."?The first went better than the second, apparently, but neither appears to have taken place on a training base in Mongolia, as this new test will be when it's conducted by two army corps and eight military academies in "late June." Obama and Xi are set to meet at an estate in California on June 7-8. Cybersecurity is on the list of talking points, the White House confirmed Tuesday as National Security Advisor Tom Donilon visited Beijing ahead of the summit.?Defense Secretary's Chuck Hagel is visiting Southeast Asia?this week, and it's on his agenda, too.
RELATED: China Says U.S. Is on Offense in Hacking Attacks on Defense Ministry
News of China's "digitalized" drill comes on the heels of Tuesday's big?Washington Post scoop?that Chinese hackers had stolen?designs for nearly 40 of the U.S.'s most valuable weapons programs?and 30 defense technologies ? a move that could "weaken the U.S. military advantage in a future conflict."?That article followed a Pentagon report earlier this month claiming that the Chinese government was directly connected to attacks on U.S. computer systems, which followed the cybersecurity firm Mandiant's report in February alleging that the PLA was connected to a number of cyberattacks on U.S. companies and infrastructure, and a 2012 assertion from national security veteran?Richard Clarke that China has hacked every major U.S. company. Now, it appears, the secret training is out in the open.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-doesnt-care-digitalized-military-cyberwar-drill-scares-143955089.html
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Zimmerman hits 3 HRs, but Orioles rally past Nats
BALTIMORE (AP) ? Ryan Zimmerman hit three home runs in the first five innings, leaving the Baltimore Orioles with a four-run deficit to overcome against one of the best pitchers in the National League.
On a toasty night at Camden Yards, the Orioles turned to their hottest player to get them out of the hole.
Chris Davis went 4 for 4 with two homers, and the Orioles battled back to beat Jordan Zimmermann and the Washington Nationals 9-6 Wednesday night.
In a wild game before 39,129 fans, each team slugged four home runs and Baltimore got six of its 13 hits in a six-run seventh inning.
"To battle back and really pull it out in a game like that is huge," Davis said. "I gave a little fist bump to let you know how much this win meant to us."
Zimmerman hit solo homers in the first and fourth innings before adding a two-run drive in the fifth, all off Chris Tillman. With a chance to tie the major league record of four homers in a game, Zimmerman came to the plate in the seventh against Steve Johnson and looked at a third strike.
It was the first three-homer game of Zimmerman's career. He came in with three home runs in 38 games this season.
"It's tough to have a night like that and not be able to kind of celebrate or have fun with it because we lost," Zimmerman said. "I've been kind of swinging the bat better. Tonight, everything kind of came together in one game."
Davis hit a solo drive in the fourth and capped the pivotal seventh with his major-league leading 19th homer, a two-run shot off Tyler Clippard.
"He's been doing that the whole year, so every home run he hits from now on is just another one," teammate Manny Machado said. "It's impressive pop. He's a tremendous hitter and he's swinging the bat well."
Davis is batting .359 after going 18 for 30 over his last seven games.
"It's fun," he said. "You're always working on things, whether you're locked in or struggling. Just the consistent approach every day has helped me out."
Steve Johnson (1-1) pitched 2 1-3 innings and Jim Johnson worked a perfect ninth for his 16th save.
Baltimore trailed 6-3 in the seventh before rallying against Jordan Zimmermann (8-3), who was seeking to become the majors' first nine-game winner.
After Ryan Flaherty singled and Steve Pearce homered, Nate McLouth got an infield hit and scored on a double by Machado. Clippard entered and gave up an RBI single to Nick Markakis before Davis crushed a 3-2 pitch to make it 9-6.
"It's on me. I am too good a pitcher to let that happen," Clippard said. "You have to execute the pitches you need to throw in those situations."
Zimmermann gave up seven runs and 10 hits in six-plus innings. He came in with a 1.71 ERA and a streak of 15 straight starts allowing three runs or less.
He, like Clippard, shouldered the blame for the defeat.
"Those guys give me six runs like that and I ought to do a better job. We should win this ball game," Zimmermann said. "It's solely on me this time."
Tillman gave up six runs and eight hits ? including a career-high four homers ? in 4 2-3 innings. He left with Baltimore down 6-2.
In his defense, it was a tough night to be a pitcher.
"Strange things happen in this ballpark," said Nationals manager Davey Johnson, who held the same job with the Orioles in 1996-97. "It's a great ballpark to hit in, but it's a tough park to pitch in."
The major league record for home runs in a game is four. The last to do it was Josh Hamilton, for Texas on May 8, 2012, at Camden Yards, of all places.
After Zimmerman homered in the first inning, Baltimore tied it in the second. Davis singled and scored on an RBI double by Flaherty, who was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk earlier in the day.
In the Washington fourth, Roger Bernadina sent a shot onto Eutaw Street beyond the right-field wall and Zimmerman followed with a drive to center that traveled an estimated 430 feet. After going homerless in the first 36 games of the season, Bernadina has connected in two straight.
Davis got the Orioles to 3-2 in the bottom half, but Zimmerman's third homer of the game highlighted a three-run fifth for Washington. Markakis homered with no one aboard in the sixth for Baltimore.
Coming into the game, Zimmermann had allowed only three homers in 10 starts, no more than one per game.
NOTES: Baltimore optioned INF Yamaico Navarro to Norfolk to make room for Flaherty. ... Washington 2B Danny Espinosa (wrist) returned after a five-game absence. ... Nationals RF Jayson Werth (groin) was scheduled to begin his rehab assignment with Single-A Potomac on Wednesday night. ... Baltimore RHP Freddy Garcia faces Dan Haren in the series finale Thursday night. ... Davis has scored a run in eight straight games, three short of the team record set by Frank Robinson in 1966.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimmerman-hits-3-hrs-orioles-rally-past-nats-032527273.html
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El Paso loses money for UTEP, Texas Tech campus projects
Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center at El Paso.
AUSTIN -- Billions in construction funding for Texas universities died Monday in a dispute between the two chambers of the Texas Legislature.
If the House version of the bill had prevailed, El Paso would have gotten between $88 million and $166 million for a new building at the University of Texas at El Paso and $78 million for a new building for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.
If the House and Senate had been able to agree, it would have been the first time the Legislature approved so-called "tuition-revenue bonds" since 2006. Legislators said the bonds were needed because Texas is growing rapidly and its universities are bursting at the seams.
UTEP Executive Vice President Richard Adauto on Monday
said there is no plan B to fund a $110 million, 250,000-square-foot interdisciplinary research building at the intersection of Sun Bowl Drive and University Avenue."There really is no other kind of funding," he said Monday morning. "We'll have to go back to the Legislature."
The funding fell victim to a dispute between the Texas House, which wanted to issue $2.7 billion worth of tuition revenue bonds, and the Texas Senate, which wanted to issue $2.4 billion.
The House, which wanted to give UTEP $40 million more than the Senate did, refused to appoint negotiators to a conference committee aimed at resolving differences between the two chambers. It was saying, in effect, that the Senate had to adopt its version of the
funding bill.State Sen. Jos? Rodr?guez, D-El Paso, said the Senate did not respond well to such an ultimatum from the House.
"The House expected the Senate to simply go along with their version," Rodr?guez said.
State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said he and his House colleagues were convinced theirs was the better version of the bill.
But Rodr?guez said the Senate worked with the Higher Education Coordinating Board to use a process to determine how to grant funding.
He said the House decisions were more arbitrary.Even so, Rodr?guez said, he tried to convince his colleagues to accept the deal.
"Border institutions like ours have been neglected for years," he said.
In the end, senators arguing that it would set a bad precedent to cave in to the House prevailed, and the bill died despite early-morning attempts to save it.
Also among senators' worries was that in order to OK the House version, they would have to approve a $300 million "technical correction" to the bill.
"They were worried that the voters wouldn't see that as a technical correction," Rodr?guez said.
Gov. Rick Perry is expected to call a special legislative session in the coming days. An early press release listed legislative redistricting as the only item on the agenda.
But Rodr?guez said that Perry added items to the agenda as the last special session went on. Lawmakers are said to be pressing the governor to add tuition revenue bonds to the special session agenda.
Marty Schladen may be reached at mschlade@elpasotimes.com; 512-479-6606.
Source: http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_23333909/el-paso-loses-money-campus-projects?source=rss_viewed
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Wednesday, 29 May 2013
The Emerging Field of Human Macroecology
Sustainability efforts have been on the cultural radar for many years. Increasingly, cultural norms instruct us to turn off the lights when leaving a room, drive a smaller car, recycle as much as possible . . . and you too will be doing your part to save the world. In some ways, however, this day-to-day advice acts as a Band-Aid for our public conscience, at the expense of digging for deeper insights about our impending resource scarcity crisis. The effects of climate change are becoming more and more difficult to ignore, and today?s ultra-connected economic ?ecosystem,? resource scarcity in one region or industry can have global implications.
Relatively little attention has been paid, however, to efforts to unearth insights into actual evolutionary and ecological principles underlying the science of how small-scale behavioral trends can interact with natural processes to produce emergent patterns at the global scale. These complexities may hinder our ability to see how even very small cultural and behavioral tendencies can either enhance or threaten our resource security?especially when considered at the scale of a human population that is 7 billion strong and growing. As the socioeconomic weave between nations, continents, and cultures becomes ever tighter, some scientists are putting a great deal of energy into investigating the relationships between large-scale ecological and evolutionary principles as they relate to resource use and misuse.
This innovative field of study, dubbed ?human macroecology,? is emerging as a hothouse for new and exciting discoveries regarding the close parallels between the dynamics of human societies and natural processes. According to Joseph Burger?University of New Mexico PhD student and key player in the development of human macroecology studies?at its core, human macroecology is ?the statistical study of exchanges of energy, materials and information between humans and the environment across spatial scales, from local to global and temporal scales, from years to millennia?. Macroecology considers the human species as functioning within the constraints of the natural world, rather than being uniquely divorced from natural resource limitations. This conceptual approach cuts across disciplines ranging from physics and ecology to anthropology and economics (Burnside et al. 2012), creating the opportunity for unprecedented synergy between fields. The stakes are high. ?Any discussion of sustainable solutions is incomplete and will ultimately fail without this perspective,? observes Burger.
The ?population bomb? was a controversial concept, but not necessarily a novel one. Thomas Malthus? insights about exponential population growth, published in 1798, had a legendary influence on Charles Darwin and his development of the theory of natural selection. The potential for interactions between the processes described by Malthus and Darwin is both fascinating and ominous. Malthus warned that populations will grow exponentially until limited by resource availability, and yet classic Darwinian adaptation?in addition to cultural innovation?allows organisms to circumvent resource limitations by increasing foraging efficiency and/or access to additional resources and decreasing mortality rates due to risks like disease and predation. If this Malthusian-Darwinian dynamic is allowed to proceed unchecked?and in step?they will interact to produce adaptations that do indeed meet immediate needs, yet may involve ultimately maladaptive behaviors (Nekola et al. 2013). For example, a population that develops an adaptation or technology to efficiently utilize a resource may end up exhausting the resource to the point that it is impossible for future generations to adapt quickly enough to sustain themselves in the depleted aftermath.
As we progressively deplete many of our natural resources, this scenario is already becoming apparent. For example, decades and decades of irrigation, diversion, and irresponsible usage rates have created a water shortage crisis across the globe, an issue currently being exemplified in the southwestern United States. The issue of drying river systems will become more urgent as climate change progresses, creating a perfect storm of both anthropogenic and climatic stress on ecological communities?including both humans and wildlife. Innovative management strategies and novel technology for taking advantage of new resources?such as the extensive irrigation systems we?ve woven across the western plains?are examples of Darwin-style adaptations that allow us to kick the Malthusian can down the road, so to speak. The question is: for how long?
This Malthusian-Darwinian dynamic (MDD) is of critical concern in the context of the world?s rapidly growing human population, and it was the topic of a recent, high-profile paper in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution (Nekola et al. 2013). Humans have proven to be ingenious at developing new technologies in order to acquire resources. Cultural evolution has produced a positive feedback loop between population and innovation?the more people we have, the more information we can process and use in creative new ways, and the more ways we can find to avoid short-term resource limitation. In addition, new technologies have allowed us to move past subsistence-level production, freeing individuals to focus on experimenting with even more advanced inventions and technologies.
Resources are indeed finite, however. We are living on resources borrowed from the future, and at some point our ancestors will have to pay our debts, with potentially catastrophic results. As we have already seen in the case of river systems in the United States, managing resources to maximize short-term benefits can seem innovative and useful at the time, yet at the cost of causing magnified problems in the future.
The views of Cornucopians and the MDD perspective are not necessarily mutually exclusive, however. Burger points out that the MDD approach actually incorporates the Cornucopian perspective by acknowledging that technological advances allow us to continue to push environmental limits. Burger cautions, however, that ?the scope for major innovations required to maintain global trajectories in population and economy is reaching diminishing returns as we are now pushing against constraints at the global scale.? Only time will reveal the outcome, but meanwhile, human macroecology research will keep us as informed as possible as to evolutionary and ecological dynamics of the processes at hand.
The insights obtained by applying ecology to human socioeconomics are fascinating and sometimes disturbing. Researchers have discovered striking parallels between the energy requirements of human economies and biological metabolism (Brown et al. 2011), economic implications for the laws of thermodynamics (Burnside et al. 2012; Burger et al. 2012), and implications of the fundamental interactions between resource limitations and Darwinian innovation/cultural evolution (Nekola et al. 2013). The trends that this research continually unveils?massive overexploitation of resources at an unsustainable rate?are very serious.
For example, Burger notes that macroecology research indicates that in order for the global human population to stabilize (achieving zero population growth; ZPG), the entire world must match the per capita energy consumption of the most developed countries. Imagine, everyone in Africa, Asia, India, Brazil, and so on blasting through resources at the rate of an average American before our population could finally stabilize. There is just not enough energy available to support a population of 7 billion?let alone 10 billion?with standards of living comparable to the United States.
Furthermore, Burger notes that macroecology research has demonstrated that ?UN predictions on population growth are much too optimistic,? meaning that progressive resource depletion ?provides formidable challenges to achieving ZPG in the absence of strict government regulated population control.? In other words, we don?t have the resources available to reach ZPG through the natural relationship between energy consumption and population growth, meaning that an acute energy scarcity crisis will occur long before we manage to stop adding more and more humans to the global tally each year.
The concept of human macroecology has yet to attain broad public awareness or appreciation, yet the issues at hand cannot be addressed without cohesive efforts involving two forms of intellectual integration: building bridges across scientific disciplines as well as between scientists and policy makers. Scientific figureheads such as the Ehrlichs have already shown support for the approach (Erhlich & Ehrlich 2013). Macroecological insights into the trajectory of human society, including how populations will grow and sustain themselves, will become of increasing importance as populations continue to burgeon and climate trends continue to shift. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the health and well-being of both civilization and nature are inextricably linked.
These issues are highly relevant to the livelihoods of scientists and non-scientists alike, and the field of macroecology stands on the forefront of research into critically important issues with broad implications for the environment, human health, and political stability. Action is needed by both scientists and society in order to find solutions that will allow our species to persist and thrive while minimizing further environmental damage.
Cited Sources:
Brown, J. H., W. R. Burnside, A. D. Davidson, J. P. DeLong, W. C. Dunn, M. J. Hamilton, et al. 2011. Energetic limits to economic growth. BioScience 61:19?26.
Burger, J. R., C. D. Allen, J. H. Brown, W. R. Burnside, A. D. Davidson, T. S. Fristoe, et al. 2012. The Macroecology of sustainability. PLOS Biology 10:e1001345.
Burnside, W. R., J. H. Brown, O. Burger, M. J. Hamilton, M. Moses and L. M. A. Bettencourt. 2012. Human macroecology: linking pattern and process in big-picture human ecology. Biological Reviews 87:194?208.
Daly, H. E. 2005. Economics in a full world. Scientific American 293:100?107.
Ehrlich, P. R. and A. H. Ehrlich. 2013. Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided? Proceedings of the Royal Society B 280:20122845.
Mace, G. M. 2012. The limits to sustainability science: ecological constraints or endless innovation? PLOS Biology 10:e1001343.
Matthews, J. H. and F. Boltz. 2012. The shifting boundaires of sustainability science: Are we doomed yet? PLOS Biology 10:e1001344.
Nekola, J. C., C. D. Allen, J. H. Brown, J. R. Burger, A. D. Davidson, T. S. Fristoe, et al. 2013. The Malthusian-Darwinian dynamic and the trajectory of civilization. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 1643.
Images: Population curve from census.gov; Tokyo by LuxTonnerre
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=b839c540ea42c0c3aaab398ac5070f86
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NKorea sanctions squeeze cash for aid groups
In this Sunday, May 19, 2013 photo, a North Korean woman works at a boutique shop which sells goods including Italian suits and Dior makeup at the newly-opened Haedanghwa Service Complex in Pyongyang, North Korea. U.N. sanctions are meant to stop the financing of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs but also aimed to sting the country's rich by crippling the import of luxury goods. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
In this Sunday, May 19, 2013 photo, a North Korean woman works at a boutique shop which sells goods including Italian suits and Dior makeup at the newly-opened Haedanghwa Service Complex in Pyongyang, North Korea. U.N. sanctions are meant to stop the financing of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs but also aimed to sting the country's rich by crippling the import of luxury goods. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
In this Sunday, May 19, 2013 photo, a North Korean woman works at a boutique shop which sells goods including Italian suits and Dior makeup at the newly-opened Haedanghwa Service Complex in Pyongyang, North Korea. U.N. sanctions are meant to stop the financing of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs but also aimed to sting the country's rich by crippling the import of luxury goods. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
In this Monday, May 20, 2013 photo, North Korean nurses say goodbye to representatives from foreign humanitarian agencies after a U.N. and North Korean government program to give vitamin supplements and deworming pills to children at a nursery school in Pyongyang, North Korea on Child Health Day. New international sanctions aimed at thwarting North Korea's nuclear weapons program are having unintended consequences: halting money transfers by foreign humanitarian groups working to help those most in need and forcing some agencies to carry suitcases of cash in from outside. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
In this Monday, May 20, 2013 photo, North Korean nurses say goodbye to representatives from foreign humanitarian agencies after a U.N. and North Korean government program to give vitamin supplements and deworming pills to children at a nursery school in Pyongyang, North Korea on Child Health Day. New international sanctions aimed at thwarting North Korea's nuclear weapons program are having unintended consequences: halting money transfers by foreign humanitarian groups working to help those most in need and forcing some agencies to carry suitcases of cash in from outside. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? New international sanctions aimed at thwarting North Korea's nuclear weapons program are having unintended consequences: halting money transfers by foreign humanitarian groups working to help those most in need and forcing some agencies to carry suitcases of cash in from outside.
At the same time, some restrictions are meant to sting the country's elite by crippling the import of luxury goods, such as yachts, fancy cars and jewelry. But they do not appear to be stopping the well-heeled from living large in the capital Pyongyang.
Much of the aid group difficulties are linked to the state-run Bank of China's decision earlier this month to follow Washington's lead and sever ties with the North's Foreign Trade Bank, the main money transfer route for most foreign organizations, U.N. agencies and embassies in Pyongyang. With that line cut, aid workers in North Korea say they are left with few other options to receive foreign currency for expenses including rent, bills and salaries for local staff.
The sanctions are not supposed to affect humanitarian aid, but six Pyongyang-based aid organizations headquartered in Europe issued a communique earlier this month spelling out their frustrations and calling the difficulties in transferring money to North Korea a "big problem." They warned that they may be forced to suspend their operations if they cannot find ways to access cash. A handful of American non-governmental organizations also work in North Korea, but they cycle in and out and do not maintain a permanent presence.
Gerhard Uhrmacher, program manager for German humanitarian aid organization Welthungerhilfe, said when recent bank transfers failed, he managed to keep projects running by routing 500,000 euros ($643,000) to Chinese or North Korean accounts in China to pay for building supplies and other goods.
He said Welthungerhilfe, which signed the communique and works on agriculture and rural development projects in North Korea, has some reserves in Pyongyang but must also resort to carrying cash into the country by hand.
"It doesn't give a good impression. We're trying to be transparent, to be open to all sides and now we're more or less forced to do something that doesn't really look very proper because people who carry a lot of cash are somehow suspect," said Uhrmacher who is based in Germany and has worked in North Korea for the past 10 years.
"Whatever you're doing, everybody looks at you very closely," he said. "That's why we don't like it because bank accounts are proper. Everybody can have a look at it and everybody can control it. Now we are forced to do something else."
Some analysts said aid groups were simply "collateral damage" and that they will find a way to work around the sanctions as they have been forced to do in other countries. Others said the poorest North Koreas would be hurt if some humanitarian groups have to pull out of the country. The aid groups work on a range of issues from food security to improving health and assisting with disabilities.
Aid groups "may not provide as much support as governments, but they have the ability to reach the deep corners of the impoverished North where people are in most need," said Woo Seongji, a professor of international relations at Kyung Hee University in Seoul. "Their help is both symbolic and substantial. It reaches kids, hospitals and food shelters that outside governments may not be able to support consistently because of political considerations."
The latest sanctions have added challenges to the already difficult system of getting money into North Korea since ally China has restrictions on how much foreign currency can be legally taken beyond its borders.
Sanctions and trade embargoes have long been used by the international community to put an economic squeeze on troublesome regimes from Iraq and Myanmar to Cuba. But they are a blunt tool that can unintentionally add to the suffering of people living under oppressive rule by hindering development and the delivery of aid.
In North Korea's case, the sanctions are meant to stop financing and the smuggling of cash that could help its nuclear and missile programs. They also aim to send a message to the country's elite by crushing the import of luxury goods.
Yet last week at the newly opened six-story Haedanghwa Service Complex in Pyongyang, well-dressed North Koreans chatted on mobile phones and browsed in a high-end boutique that sold everything from fine Italian suits and Dior makeup to glass showcases glittering with diamonds and gold.
The opulent center boasted 17 different themed dining rooms and cavernous banquet halls, some with their own bathrooms and round tables big enough to seat 30 people. Upstairs, young couples played pool, lounged in the sauna and munched on sushi while sipping cans of Coke and beer. Others splashed in a heated indoor swimming pool replete with waterfalls or worked out at a fitness center filled with state-of-the-art equipment. Downstairs at a popular restaurant, a chef delighted guests by cooking on a grill in front of them ? at a cost of $50 a plate, not including drinks.
Meanwhile, at the airport, a Toshiba 42-inch flatscreen TV slowly made loops on the baggage carousel. All proof that high-end merchandise is still making its way to the upper class in an impoverished country where two-thirds of its 24 million people don't have enough to eat.
Uhrmacher said that despite repeated European Union vows that sanctions will not affect humanitarian aid, the pinch is being felt by all the organizations working in North Korea. The EU has not sanctioned Foreign Trade Bank, but he said due to U.S. political pressure and fears of becoming entangled in controversy, European banks do not want to be associated with it. Bank of China had typically been used as a channel to route money to the aid groups' North Korean accounts.
Most foreign embassies, NGOs and businesses have accounts at FTB or the Daedong Credit Bank. Daedong was named in an earlier round of U.S. sanctions, leading many embassies and NGOs to open accounts at the FTB.
"We are concerned regarding possible unintended effects of certain sanctions, in particular with regard to humanitarian assistance, and stress the need to overcome these unintended effects," said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton.
The U.S. Treasury Department hit the North Korean bank with sanctions in March, effectively cutting it off from the U.S. financial system after accusing the country's main foreign exchange institution of funding Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs. Washington pressured Beijing to also impose restrictions on the bank a month after new leader Kim Jong Un angered his biggest economic supporter by conducting an underground nuclear test.
The U.N. responded to that move by slapping Pyongyang with its toughest-ever sanctions. Tensions then boiled and North Korea spewed threats for weeks, including plans to launch nuclear strikes against the U.S. and its allies. The mood has since cooled, with the North sending a high-level envoy to Beijing last week to deliver a message that they were willing to take steps toward rejoining stalled nuclear disarmament talks.
Embassies and U.N. agencies are also affected by the banking transfer issues, but several officials refused to comment due to the sensitivity of the issue. However, the U.N. in Pyongyang said last month that the sanctions were hurting its ability to raise funds, resulting in a shortage of drugs and vaccines. The World Health Organization also said it's harder to import equipment and medicine because everyone has become over cautious at all levels before clearing materials.
The World Food Program said it has not yet been affected by the banking problems. It only needs limited funding within North Korea as financial transactions for its food aid are completed outside the country.
____
Associated Press writers Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Frank Jordans in Berlin and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this report.
____
Follow Margie Mason on Twitter: twitter.com/MargieMasonAP
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Tuesday, 28 May 2013
Monday, 27 May 2013
Radwanska wins opening match at French Open
Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska returns against Israel's Shahar Peer in their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska returns against Israel's Shahar Peer in their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament, at Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Monday, May 27, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)
PARIS (AP) ? Agnieszka Radwanska needed only 57 minutes to win her opening match Monday at the French Open, beating Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-1.
The No. 4-seeded Radwanska, last year's Wimbledon runner-up, played for the first time since withdrawing before last week's Brussels tournament with a right shoulder injury.
Playing in sunny, mild weather on Court Suzanne Lenglen, Radwanska committed only eight unforced errors.
Radwanska has won two tournament titles this year but is just 2-2 on clay this spring. She has never advanced beyond the fourth round at Roland Garros.
Her sister, Urszula, beat 30th-seeded Venus Williams in the final match Sunday, 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-4
No. 15 Roberta Vinci won in less than an hour Monday morning, beating Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-3, 6-0.
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"Stop wrecking people's lives and repent", Pope tells mafia
ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis spoke out against mafia organizations exploiting and enslaving people, calling on mafiosi on Sunday to repent in words that recalled an impassioned plea by Pope John Paul II 20 years ago.
Speaking off the cuff after his weekly Angelus blessing in St. Peter's Square, Francis spoke about the mafia for the first time since he became pontiff two months ago.
High profile killings by the Italian mafia have declined since the 1990s, but through activities such as prostitution, extortion and drug trafficking they still wield a heavy influence over the country and its economy.
Italy's main crime groups - the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, the Calabrian 'Ndrangheta and the Camorra from around the southern city of Naples - have a joint annual turnover of 116 billion euros ($150 billion), according to the United Nations.
That is more than the annual sales of Italy's biggest company, oil giant Eni.
Francis recalled the example of the Sicilian anti-mafia priest Giuseppe Puglisi, who was killed by gunmen in 1993 outside his home in the island's capital of Palermo, and was beatified on Saturday .
"My thoughts are with the suffering of women, men and also children who are exploited by the many mafias who make them slaves, through prostitution, through many social pressures," he said.
"They cannot do this, they cannot make our brothers slaves, we must pray to the Lord to make these mafiosi convert to God."
In one of his most famous addresses in Agrigento, Sicily, in May 1993, John Paul angrily called on mafiosi to "repent, because one day you will face the judgment of God".
Earlier, Francis made his first visit to a Rome parish when he said Mass outside a church in the northern fringe of the city, joking with local children during the service.
"You can understand reality better from the outskirts than the center," he said in front of the modern, red brick church of Saints Elisabeth and Zachariah, a far cry from the vast 16th century Basilica of St. Peters in the Vatican.
During the service the pope, who is bishop of Rome, held a light-hearted question and answer session with children about the roles of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
"Whoever gets it right will win the derby," he said, in a reference to the Italian soccer cup final to be played later between Rome's two rival teams, AS Roma and Lazio. ($1 = 0.7734 euros)
(Reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Alison Williams)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stop-wrecking-peoples-lives-repent-pope-tells-mafia-125028623.html
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10 Fans Injured At NASCAR Race When TV Cable Falls On Track During Coca-Cola 600 (VIDEO)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Track workers clean up cable from an aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Cars race as a cable hangs over the infield from an aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a Yellow Flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Track workers clean up cable from an aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Track workers clean up cable from an aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, walks around his car on pit road during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, leads a group of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, leads the field to the green flag to start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, and Kasey Kahne, driver of the #5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, looks over his car as crew members work on it in the pits during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, walks around his car on pit road during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, walks around his car on pit road during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: A view of the aerial Fox Sports camera on the front stretch during a red flag in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. The red flag was due to a rope that helps hold a aerial Fox Sports camera hanging above the 1.5-mile layout at Charlotte Motor Speedway snapped during the Coca-Cola 600. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, leads David Stremme, driver of the #30 Lean 1/Swan Energy Inception, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, leads Mark Martin, driver of the #55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, leads a group of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Clint Bowyer, driver of the #15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota, leads Kurt Busch, driver of the #78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Cars race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Cars race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Clint Bowyer drives the #15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, leads a of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Home Depot/Husky Toyota, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch drives the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Martin Truex Jr., driver of the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Martin Truex Jr. drives the #56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Danica Patrick, driver of the #10 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet, leads a group of cars during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Joey Logano, driver of the #22 Shell-Pennzoil Ford, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Joe Nemechek, driver of the #87 NEMCO Motorsports Toyota, and Aric Almirola, driver of the #43 US Air Force Ford, race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, speaks with the media after having engine trouble during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the #88 National Guard Chevrolet, speaks with the media after having engine trouble during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Matt Kenseth, driver of the #20 Home Depot/Husky Toyota, leads Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Crew members work on the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, driven by Kyle Busch, in the garage after an incident in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Crew members work on the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, driven by Kyle Busch, in the garage after an incident in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Crew members push the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, driven by Kyle Busch, in the garage after an incident in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Crew members work on the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, driven by Kyle Busch, in the garage after an incident in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Trevor Bayne, driver of the #21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford, pits during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, leads the field to start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Denny Hamlin, driver of the #11 FedEx Office Toyota, leads the field to start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
Coca-Cola 600
CONCORD, NC - MAY 26: Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 M&M's Red-White-Blue M-Prove America Toyota, and Kasey Kahne, driver of the #5 Time Warner Cable Chevrolet, race during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2013 in Concord, North Carolina. (Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)
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Sunday, 26 May 2013
Gesture Writing - NYTimes.com
Draft is a series about the art and craft of writing.
Five years ago, I walked into a third-floor art studio on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, climbed atop a wooden stage covered in stained padding and dropped my ratty yellow bathrobe. A panel of strangers asked me to pose, and then to freeze. I had never modeled for artists, and had no idea how I would feel standing naked as people I had just met stared at me. The idea held some bohemian appeal, but more urgently, I needed to supplement my income as a freelance writer while I worked on a novel.
I made the cut, and became a member of the Bay Area Models Guild. I had hoped this gig might earn me grocery money. I soon grew to love the freedom and strange relinquishment of status that comes from offering your nude presence to artists. What surprised me the most, though, was how profoundly it changed my writing life.
Soon I was sent out on bookings, mostly to introductory college drawing classes. The professor?s approach was always the same. I was asked to do many sets of active one- or two-minute poses.
?Find the gesture!? the instructor would shout, as the would-be artists sketched. ?What is the essence of that pose? How does that pose feel to the model? The whole pose ? quick, quick! No, not the arm or the leg. The line of the energy. What is that pose about? Step back and see it ? really see it ? whole.? And then, my timer beeped, I moved to a new pose and the students furiously flipped to a clean page.
This ?gesture? idea was fundamental. In painting classes, where I held the same pose for three hours (with frequent five-minute breaks, thank God), the paintings that looked most alive were built on top of a good gesture sketch, a first-step, quick-and-dirty drawing in which many crucial decisions about placement, perspective and emphasis were made intuitively.
In a gesture drawing, a whole arm that didn?t matter much might be just a smudgy slash, while a line that captured the twist of a spine might stand in sharp, carefully observed relief. The ?gesture? was the line of organic connection within the body, the trace of kinetic cause-and-effect that made the figure a live human being rather than a corpse of stitched-together parts. If you ?found the gesture,? you found life.
I was, during those early days of art modeling, struggling to find the life in my stylistically choppy novel. At home alone, I heard the drawing instructors? voices.
Find the gesture. Don?t worry about the details. What is the essence of that pose?
I left my laptop at my desk and moved to the other side of the room to sit on the floor with my notebook. I chose a scene that involved a woman and a man sitting at a table with a priest, going over the results of a premarital counseling questionnaire.
I knew what happened in the scene, and what each character said, but when I?d tried to write it on my computer, the results were clunky. I kept trying to make the scene better by adding more about the woman?s thoughts and tinkering with the dialogue.
Step back. See it whole. Sitting on the floor with my notebook, I didn?t worry about words, about sentences. I thought about how the woman and her fianc? were sitting next to each other at the table, how the priest was wearing a high-necked orange sweater, how the woman?s fianc? assumed the priest didn?t know about ?intimacy? with a woman . . . click. Yes, it was so much more interesting from the husband-to-be?s point of view!
Where?s the line of energy? What is the essence of what you see? Quick! I wrote all over the page, a line of complete dialogue followed by a place-holder phrase of exposition, a one-word reminder of the next action followed by an arrow to the margin where I?d scribbled a description of a key image. The page looked a mess. But I had captured the movement of the scene, not one line of dialogue connected clunkily to the next action. There was the whole. It made leaps. It had perspective. It had emphasis and connection. It had life.
Later, I could go back and do what artists call rendering ? working the drawing, adding detail. But now I had a solid gesture sketch to work from. And this had happened in five minutes.
Perhaps this shouldn?t have been a revelation. According to ?The Writer?s Notebook,? an eye-opening collection of writers? actual notebook pages, the novelist Ethan Canin made lists of ?assignments? ? future scenes to write ? before choosing one and typing out quick-and-dirty sketches of the whole in sentence fragments. Charles Johnson, the National Book Award winner for his novel ?Middle Passage,? scribbled pages with sketches like:
So it was done; I was the new captain of the Republic. It figured, in a way, that a Negro wouldn?t gain control of the steering-wheel until the ship was leaking like a basket, damaged damned near beyond repair, and everyone ready to bail out.
The Allmuseri behead Falcon. Later, when R. sees him on the Phantom ship, his head keeps falling off.
Allmuseri have no fingerprints. (identity)
What are writers who quickly jot down such messy sketches doing if not ?gesture writing??
Realizing that writing is a lot like drawing gives us a deeper approach. Because really, before we put a word or a mark on the page, both writers and artists must first step back and see. And seeing is not simple. As the writer and teacher Ellen Collett has written in an excellent article on ?narrative inflection?:
As fiction writers know, every story is told by a narrative voice, and voice reveals itself by what it sees. Voice is a synthesis of seeing and speaking, of sight and syntax. While syntax ? the mechanics of diction ? can be made to toe the line and conform to a particular ?style,? seeing is trickier to control. Seeing is choice. It?s inherently personal.
To see in the way that Collett is describing, to see deeply enough to capture the vibrancy of life on the page, a writer must move her consciousness out of information organizing mode into an intuitive way of seeing subtle organic connections and capturing them in bold strokes.
And let us not forget the reader. I didn?t know of Viktor Shklovsky?s classic (and complex) ?Theory of Prose? when I began art modeling, but his use of visual metaphors to describe the work of artistic prose captures the difference between flatly rendering information in words and making those words serve deep vision. He writes, ?And so, in order to return sensation to our limbs, in order to make us feel objects, to make a stone feel stony, man has been given the tool of art. The purpose of art, then, is to lead us to a knowledge of a thing through the organ of sight instead of recognition.? He goes on to say, ?The purpose of the image is not to draw our understanding closer to that which the image stands for, but rather to allow us to perceive the object in a special way, in short to lead us to a ?vision? of this object[.]?
Narrative prose, Shklovsky argued, doesn?t simply rearrange what the reader already thinks she sees. We?re talking about a shift in consciousness, for writer and reader (and for artist and viewer) alike.
Sounds mystical ? and impossible. But the pleading shouts of Life Drawing 101 instructors offer a simple, effective practice. How can we get over looking for every finger and toe, of aiming for lifeless ?accuracy,? and get out of our own way? What is the essence of what you see? No measuring! Quick!
The age-old artists? practice of gesture drawing suggests a new practice, might we call it ?gesture writing,? that can train us to ?see? the whole before we write.
No nudity required.
Rachel Howard is the author of a memoir about her father?s unsolved murder, ?The Lost Night,? and is finishing a novel.
Source: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/gesture-writing/
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GOP continues to slam new Obama war approach
President Barack Obama walks with Col. Greg Urtso to board Air Force One, Sunday, May 26, 2013, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to Moore, Okla., to visit with families and first responders in the wake of the tornadoes and severe weather that devastated the area. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama walks with Col. Greg Urtso to board Air Force One, Sunday, May 26, 2013, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to Moore, Okla., to visit with families and first responders in the wake of the tornadoes and severe weather that devastated the area. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans keep slamming President Barack Obama's push to move the government away from a war footing and refine and recalibrate counterterrorism strategy.
Capitol Hill Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina say Obama is projecting weakness at a time when the United States needs to show resolve against terror networks like al-Qaida.
The South Carolina Republican said Sunday that "at a time when we need resolve the most, we're sounding retreat."
Obama gave a major speech Thursday in which he said al-Qaida is "on the path to defeat" and he's signaling that he's reluctant to commit troops overseas to conflicts like Syria or other countries struggling with instability in the uncertain aftermath of the Arab Spring. He's also modifying policies on the use of unmanned drone aircraft to try to limit civilian casualties and is redoubling his longstanding ? but so far unfulfilled ? promise to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many terrorism suspects are being held without formal charges.
Obama is trying to recast the image of terrorists from enemy warriors to cowardly thugs and move the United States away a state of perpetual war.
But Graham said Obama is displaying a "lack of resolve" despite a slew of concerns in the Middle East, including civil war and chemical weapons in Syria and threats to Israel from Syria's unrest and Iran's nuclear program.
"We show this lack of resolve, talking about the war being over," Graham said. "What do you think the Iranians are thinking? At the end of the day, this is the most tone-deaf president I ever could imagine."
"I see a big difference between the president saying the war's at an end and whether or not you've won the war," said Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. "We can claim that it's at an end, but this war's going to continue. And we have still tremendous threats out there, that are building, not declining, building, and to not recognize that, I think, is dangerous in the long run and dangerous for the world."
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., defended the president, reprising Obama's theme that maintaining a wartime posture runs the risk of compromising U.S. principles.
"If we're constantly thinking of this as a war, we stand a chance of doing things that compromise our freedoms," Durbin said.
Obama ally Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that "having transparency, having rules and engaging other activities other than military to help curb the war on terror ? diplomacy, economic sanctions and things like that ? is going to be useful as well. So I think the president did a very, very smart pivot, realizing we're not going to let up on terrorists, but at the same time we're going to meet the changes in the world."
Graham and Durbin spoke on "Fox News Sunday." Schumer and Coburn spoke on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Associated PressBayern beats Dortmund 2-1 in final on Robben goal
LONDON (AP) ? Arjen Robben scored in the 89th minute to give Bayern Munich a 2-1 win over German rival Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League final Saturday night, ending four years of frustration for his team in Europe's biggest tournament.
Robben ran onto Franck Ribery's backheeled flick in the penalty area and put the ball past goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller to send Bayern to its first Champions League victory since 2001 and fifth overall. Bayern had lost two of the last three finals, including a penalty-kicks defeat to Chelsea last year in Munich.
"This means a lot. I still have not grasped it," Robben said. "There are so many emotions."
In a game that featured a slew of chances for both teams, Mario Mandzukic put Bayern ahead in the 60th minute at Wembley Stadium, and Ilkay Gundogan evened the score on a penalty kick eight minutes later after defender Dante fouled Marco Reus in the area.
Robben, who missed two great chances in the first half, then finally came through for Bayern to set off wild celebrations in the red-and-white end of Wembley. Robben's overtime penalty kick was saved in last year's final, causing some Bayern fans to turn against him. A year later, after the final whistle sounded, he strode with his arms raised toward the section of jubilant Bayern fans.
"It was very even. They had chances. We had chances," Robben said. "Then the last minute, I was quicker to the ball. I missed two chances before that, but I stayed calm."
Robben set up the first goal for Bayern, taking a pass from Ribery and drawing Weidenfeller out before squaring for Mandzukic, who could hardly miss from a few yards out.
But the lead didn't last long. Dante clumsily clattered into Reus in the penalty area, and Italian referee Nicola Rizzoli pointed to the spot. Gundogan sent goalkeeper Manuel Neuer the wrong way before slotting his kick into the right side of the net.
Dortmund defender Neven Subotic became the first American to play in a Champions League final and made an outstanding sliding clearance on Thomas Mueller's shot to prevent a goal in the 72nd. The 24-year-old grew up in Salt Lake City and Bradenton, Fla., and played for the U.S. under-17 and under-20 teams before switching to the senior national team of Serbia, where he was born.
Bayern improved to 3-0-2 against Dortmund this season and Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes won his second Champions League trophy following a 1998 win with Real Madrid. Bayern announced in January that he will be replaced after the season by former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola's first chance at a trophy with Bayern will be the UEFA Super Cup in August against Europa League winner Chelsea ? likely to be managed then by outgoing Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho.
Bayern entered as the favorite, although that message didn't seem to have filtered through to Juergen Klopp's Dortmund team, which seemed intent on dictating play from the start. It largely succeeded for the first 25 minutes as well, although it was Bayern that ended up with the best chances of the first half.
Mandezukic came closest when his header was tipped onto the bar by Weidenfeller in the 26th, and the goalkeeper then denied Robben four minutes later when the speedy winger raced clear toward the goal.
Before that, Neuer had been by far the busier goalkeeper, making a point-blank save from Jakub Blaszczykowski and diving to stop an effort from Sven Bender. Neuer also pushed away long efforts from Reus and Robert Lewandowski before denying the Polish striker again from close range in the 35th.
Robben had the final chance of the half when he beat Mats Hummels to a long ball into the area in the 42nd, but fired his volley straight into Weidenfeller's face.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bayern-beats-dortmund-2-1-final-robben-goal-210828515.html
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