WASHINGTON?Carol Burnett, who became famous for playing a variety of characters in sketch comedy routines on her namesake television show, was named the winner of the nation's top humor prize on Tuesday.
The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts said Burnett will receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Oct. 20 in Washington. A gala performance featuring top names in comedy will be taped and broadcast nationally Oct. 30 on PBS.
The 80-year-old Burnett said she can't believe she is receiving the prize from the Kennedy Center.
"It's almost impossible to be funnier than the people in Washington," she said in a statement.
Burnett had her breakout on Broadway in "Once Upon a Mattress," performing at night in 1959 while also appearing in the mornings on TV's "The Garry Moore Show." She is best known for her own long-running variety show, "The Carol Burnett Show." It ran from 1967 to 1978, averaging 30 million viewers a week on CBS. Her guest stars included Lucille Ball, Jimmy Stewart, Ronald Reagan and Betty White.
Burnett was born in San Antonio in 1933. She soon moved to Hollywood with her mother and grandmother and was raised in a small studio apartment. She received an anonymous donation to attend college at UCLA, where she studied journalism and took an acting class.
Burnett moved to New York City, where she staged musical revues and performed in nightclubs. She was spotted by talent bookers and soon performed her
rendition of "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles" on television.
Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein called Burnett a "unique and beloved entertainer."
"From her television program and appearances, as well as her performances on Broadway and in film, Carol Burnett has entertained generations of fans with her vibrant wit and hilarious characters," he said in announcing the prize.
The Mark Twain Prize honors people who have an impact on society in the tradition of Samuel Clemens, better known as Twain, as a social commentator and satirist. Previous honorees include Bill Cosby, Steve Martin, Tina Fey and Ellen DeGeneres, who won last year.
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Kennedy Center: http://www.kennedy-center.org
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The president and chief executive officer of The Associated Press on Sunday called the government's secret seizure of two months of reporters' phone records "unconstitutional" and said the news cooperative had not ruled out legal action against the Justice Department.
Gary Pruitt, in his first television interviews since it was revealed the Justice Department subpoenaed phone records of AP reporters and editors, said the move already has had a chilling effect on journalism. Pruitt said the seizure has made sources less willing to talk to AP journalists and, in the long term, could limit Americans' information from all news outlets.
Pruitt told CBS' "Face the Nation" that the government has no business monitoring the AP's newsgathering activities.
"And if they restrict that apparatus ... the people of the United States will only know what the government wants them to know and that's not what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they wrote the First Amendment," he said.
In a separate interview with the AP, Pruitt said the news cooperative had not decided its next move but had not ruled out legal action against the government.
"It's too early to know if we'll take legal action but I can tell you we are positively displeased and we do feel that our constitutional rights have been violated," he said.
"They've been secretive, they've been overbroad and abusive ? so much so that taken together, they are unconstitutional because they violate our First Amendment rights," he added.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the government needs to stop leaks by whatever means necessary.
"This is an investigation that needs to happen because national security leaks, of course, can get our agents overseas killed," he said.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said the government should focus on those who leak sensitive national security matters and not on journalists who report on them. The Texas Republican said his committee should hold hearings on how the Justice Department obtained phone records from AP reporters and editors.
"What confuses me is the focus on the press, who have a constitutional right here and we depend on the press to get to the bottom of so many issues that we, as individuals, cannot," Cornyn said.
Cornyn said the Justice Department's actions were part of a pattern for President Barack Obama's administration to quiet its critics.
"It's a culture of cover-ups and intimidation that is giving the administration so much trouble," Cornyn said.
He also renewed his call for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign, citing the contempt citation the House of Representatives voted against him last year for refusing to turn over documents in a failed government gun smuggling sting.
White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said the president "has complete faith in Attorney General Holder." He also insisted the White House was not involved in the decision to seek AP phone records.
"A cardinal rule is we don't get involved in independent investigations. And this is one of those," Pfeiffer said.
Although the Justice Department has not explained why it sought phone records from the AP, Pruitt pointed to a May 7, 2012, story that disclosed details of a successful CIA operation in Yemen to stop an airliner bomb plot around the one-year anniversary of the May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden.
The AP delayed publication of that story at the request of government officials who said it would jeopardize national security.
"We respected that, we acted responsibly, we held the story," Pruitt said.
Pruitt said that only after officials from two government entities said the threat had passed did the AP publish the story. He said the administration still asked that the story be held until an official announcement the next day, a request the AP rejected.
The news service viewed the story as important because White House and Department of Homeland Security officials were saying publicly there was no credible evidence of a terrorist threat to the U.S. around the one-year anniversary of bin Laden's death.
"So that was misleading to the American public. We felt the American public needed to know this story," Pruitt said.
The AP has seen an effect on its newsgathering since the disclosure of the Justice Department's subpoena, he said.
"Officials that would normally talk to us and people we talk to in the normal course of newsgathering are already saying to us that they're a little reluctant to talk to us," Pruitt said. "They fear that they will be monitored by the government."
The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of personal and work telephone records for several reporters and editors, as well as general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and for the main number for the AP in the House of Representatives press gallery.
"It was sweeping and broad and beyond what they needed to do," Pruitt said.
He objected to the "Justice Department acting on its own being the judge, jury and executioner in secret," saying the AP would not back down.
"We're not going to be intimidated by the abusive tactics of the Justice Department," he said.
McConnell and Pfeiffer were interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press." Cornyn appeared on "Face the Nation."
There's always glitz and glamour at Cannes, France, during its annual film festival, and it's no different this year. But there's still a heavy infusion of gold to come this week at Thursday's amfAR gala, which will treat its celebrity guests to 40 of the world's top models in "The Ultimate Gold Collection Fashion Show," curated by Carine Roitfeld.
It's the 20th edition of the gala, which raises money for AIDS research, and the "ultimate" show builds on a smaller one that launched last year. This time, Karlie Kloss, Karolina Kurkova, Angela Lindvall and Alessandra Ambrosio will be dripping in gold jewelry and wearing gleaming gowns by Giorgio Armani, Alexander Wang, Marchesa and Louis Vuitton, among others.
"It was really hard to choose a dress for this," said Eva Cavalli, who is donating a mermaid, sequin-covered gown from the Roberto Cavalli archive that Kurkova will wear to open the show.
"Gold for Cavalli is THE color: the color of sun, positivity, warmth, joy," said Cavalli, Roberto's wife and design partner. "But it was hard to choose for this. I also thought of gold leather, but I was thinking that I wanted to give something really special, and this is one of the most beautiful pieces we ever did."
Charity catwalks such as this add a little sense of competition among designers, she said, but "only because everyone wants to do more, give more and be involved more, but in a friendly way."
She bought a Valentino red gown at another amfAR event. "I've never worn it, but it looks good and maybe I will wear it someday."
Years ago, fashion wasn't a big part of the event ? or even the film festival, Roitfeld said, but there were so many beautiful dresses and so many beautiful faces that it was ripe to make a big, bold style statement. "It's so glamorous and generous at amfAR. Why not?"
Roitfeld, who usually has a uniform of black or khaki, said she'll wear gold, "which is a big deal for me."
She'll be mingling with Sharon Stone, Heidi Klum, Jessica Chastain and Harvey Weinstein, among others, and scheduled performers include Duran Duran, Shirley Bassey, Ellie Goulding and Hot Chelle Rae. The event will stream live at the Lovegold.com website.
"We had to make it more fun than other fashion shows. It's not all journalists and the people who go to fashion shows at Cannes. We have to entertain. ... It's more like a Victoria's Secret show, where they create the dream of women to have wings on their back. We're doing the same thing with our girls," Roitfeld said. "We're not there to sell the dress. The models are there more to flirt with the audience."
She added: "Charity is always a good excuse to mix people with models."
A bid has been launched to improve safety on the A18 road near Grimsby where the Cockburn family lost their lives
A bid to improve safety on a dangerous stretch of road where a North family lost their lives has been launched.
Tragedy struck on Friday, April 12 on the notorious A18 road near Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, which killed members of the Cockburn family, from the Chester-le-Street area of County Durham.
Wife and mother Angela Cockburn, 49, died along with husband David, 48, daughters Carley Ann, 21, and Bethany, 18, and 23-month-old granddaughter Lacie Jade Stephenson, when the family?s Nissan Primera was involved in a head-on collision with a lorry.
North East Lincolnshire Council last week agreed to reduce the speed limit on the road, featured in the BBC television programme Britain's Most Dangerous Roads in 2011, from 60mph to 50mph, but a petition to ask the Department for Transport to review safety measures on the road has also been drawn up.
So far, 1,600 people have signed the petition.
Wendy Parsons, a freelance dancer who knew the two daughters, writes on the petition website: ?I, we, the undersigned, would like the government to review road safety in that area and consult with local people on what measures could be taken to ensure further tragedies such as this do not occur again.?
The family leave behind Dean, who was a brother to Carley Ann and Bethany, an uncle called Richard, an aunt called Ann, and grandmother Olive, Angela?s mother. Garry Stephenson has suffered the loss of both his daughter Lacie and his girlfriend Bethany. Carley Ann also leaves behind her boyfriend Lee.
The family had been travelling to a dance competition at Butlins in Skegness. Carley Ann and Bethany had won many trophies as freestyle dancers.
After the tragedy, dozens of people in the region left flowers at Los Angela?s, Angela?s salon in Carr Hill, Gateshead, and at the family home in Ouston.
Many also marked the second birthday that little Lacie Jade never got to have by lighting lanterns in the tot?s memory on May 6.
More than 68,000 people joined the RIP Cockburn Family Facebook group to pay tribute.
David and Angela are remembered as kind and caring parents and many described the Cockburns simply as a ?lovely family?.
Inquests into the death have opened and been adjourned and are expected to be concluded later this year.
To sign the petition go to: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/48888.
GEZIRAT AL-FADEL, Egypt -- In 1948, Suleiman Mamoudi fled by foot with his parents and other families from their village of Bir el-Sabae in Palestine. The 28-year-old and his family walked west for several hundred miles, crossing the Sinai Peninsula before settling in an area around 90 miles (145 kilometers) north of Cairo.
They had not planned to stay long in Egypt's Sharqiya province, until they found themselves unable to return home after the Jewish takeover of their city, renamed Beersheba.
Mamoudi, now 93 years old, is among some 3,000 Palestinians living in the impoverished village of Gezirat al-Fadel. He spends his days sitting on a cushion on the ground outside his sparsely furnished two-bedroom, mud brick home. The dirt roads make it difficult for him to walk with his cane.
He lives with his 13 children and 28 grandchildren. Like his neighbors, they sleep on mats spread in the corridors of the house.
His neighbor, Khadra Mohammed, 52, lives in a 540 sq. foot (50 sq. meter) mud brick house with 19 of her family members. Inside one of the rooms is a rickety bed and a fan hanging from a ceiling covered with spider webs.
Mamoudi has seen three generations of Palestinians from Bir el-Sabae born here without access to free education and health care, a right afforded to Egyptians. He says their plight is forgotten and the area they live in ignored.
As Palestinians around the world recently marked the 65th anniversary of their mass displacement during the war over Israel's 1948 creation, the refugees in Gezirat al-Fadel say they have it worse than others who fled to Jordan, Syria or Lebanon. Unlike the millions who live in refugee camps there, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) does not have offices in Egypt and so does not offer Palestinians in the country assistance.
For residents here, there is no foreseeable return from the "nakba" or "catastrophe" ? the term they use to describe when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes during the fighting.
The Palestinians of Gezirat al-Fadel have had to fend for themselves, and are not allowed to hold public sector jobs.
The vast majority of adults and children are illiterate, unable to afford even the low-cost of a nearby government-run school. Many of the children, barefoot with torn clothes, spend their days helping adults sift through garbage to find what can be recycled, one of the few ways to earn a meager living in this tiny village.
Others work in nearby farms and are paid in wheat grains for their work. The women then sift the wheat and grind it by hand to make bread.
A typical home has a roof made out of straw and palm leaves. Some families have old refrigerators, while others do not. The homes have no kitchens, so women cook on small, portable gas stove top burners. They rock toddlers to sleep in a blanket that is tied from all four corners by a rope slung over the shoulder.
They are a tightknit community and intermarriage between first cousins is common, leading to birth defects among many of the village's children. One family has two deaf children, but lacks the funds to offer the young girls the special care they require.
While many know nothing more of life beyond Gezirat al-Fadel, they say they have not lost their connection to Bir el-Sabae. They say they dream of returning to their land in hopes of living a more dignified life and leaving behind this almost forgotten corner of Egypt, a nation already burdened by a population boom and widespread poverty.
NEW YORK (AP) ? A gunman used homophobic slurs before firing a fatal shot point-blank into a man's face on a Manhattan street alive with a weekend midnight crowd, a killing New York's police commissioner called an "anti-gay" hate crime.
Before opening fire early Saturday, the gunman confronted the victim and his companion in Greenwich Village and asked if they "want to die here," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
The shooting follows a series of recent bias attacks on gay men in New York, but this was the first deadly one.
About 15 minutes before the bloodshed, the gunman was seen urinating outside an upscale restaurant a few blocks from the Stonewall Inn, a birthplace of the gay rights movement, according to Kelly. He then went inside the restaurant and asked if someone was going to call the police about him.
Police said the gunman, identified later as 33-year-old Elliot Morales, told both the bartender and the manager, "if you do call the police, I'll shoot you" and opened his sweatshirt to reveal a shoulder holster with a revolver and made anti-gay remarks, Kelly said.
Morales has a previous arrest for attempted murder in 1998, police said. Details of that arrest weren't immediately clear.
Out on the street minutes later, the gunman and two others approached the 32-year-old victim, identified by police as Harlem resident Marc Carson, and a companion on Sixth Avenue. One of the three men yelled out, "What are you, gay wrestlers?" according to Kelly.
The two men stopped, turned and, according to Kelly, said to the group taunting them, "What did you say?" ? then kept walking.
"There were no words that would aggravate the situation spoken by the victims here," the commissioner said. "This fully looks to be a hate crime, a bias crime."
Two of the men kept following the victim and his companion, Kelly said, adding that witnesses saw the pair approach from behind while repeating anti-gay slurs.
The gunman asked the men if they were together and when he got an affirmative answer, Kelly said, "we believe that the perpetrator says to the victim, 'Do you want to die here?'"
That's when suspect produced the revolver and fired one shot into Carson's cheek, Kelly said.
The gunman fled to 3rd Street, where an officer who had heard a description on his radio spotted him and ordered him to stop, Kelly said. The suspected gunman threw his revolver to the ground and was arrested on the edge of the New York University campus.
Police found the mortally wounded victim on the pavement. He was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Hospital.
Authorities said they could not immediately identify Morales because he was carrying forged identification. But investigators learned his name after the forged ID was submitted to the department's Facial Recognition Unit.
Of the other recent New York bias attacks on gay men, one was reported last week on nearby Christopher Street, where a 35-year-old man told police he was beaten up and heard anti-gay words after leaving a bar.
On May 10, two men trying to enter a billiards hall on West 32nd Street were approached and beaten by a group shouting homophobic slurs, police said.
And on May 5, a man and his partner were beaten near Madison Square Garden after a group of men wearing Knicks shirts hurled anti-gay slurs at them.
The commissioner said Saturday that police were looking into possible links between the incidents.
Multiple lawmakers have condemned the violence.
"I am horrified to learn that last night, a gay man was murdered in my district after being chased out of a Greenwich Village restaurant and assailed by homophobic slurs," New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. "I stand with all New Yorkers in condemning this attack."
The Democratic mayoral candidate said there was a time in New York when hate crimes were common ? when two people of the same gender could not walk down the street arm in arm without fear of violence and harassment.
But "we refuse to go back to that time," she said. "This kind of shocking and senseless violence, so deeply rooted in hate, has no place in a city whose greatest strength will always be its diversity."
New York State Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Democrat whose district includes Manhattan's West Side, called on New Yorkers "to unite against hate and gun violence."
And State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick declared that "New York is not open for bigotry."
The New York City Anti-Violence Project plans to gather on Friday night for what it calls a "Community Safety Night."
Beyonce at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit.
It's the hottest not-yet-confirmed story in entertainment at the moment: Are Beyonce and Jay-Z about to announce that baby No. 2 is on the way?
E! Online and other outlets seem positive this is the case, though thus far "sources" are the only place information has come from -- no one's spokesperson has stepped forward to put the official stamp on it.
But perhaps Beyonce herself reportedly did, on a since-deleted post on her Instagram account (see link for screen shot of post). According to several outlets, shortly after the initial rumors began surfacing, the singer apparently posted: "I can?t stop the rumors from starting, and I can?t really change peoples minds who believe them, all I can do is sit back and laugh at these low life people who have nothing better to do than talk about me.?
So since Beyonce won't say "yes" or "no," what's fueling this burning question?
In April, Beyonce told Shape magazine that they would definitely have more children in the future, saying ?I?ll probably start after this tour.? Her first, Blue Ivy, is 16 months old. She hit the road with her "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour" that month, and will be on the road until September -- but maybe she just couldn't wait.
Her appearance at the Met Gala in early May featured her in a "stomach-concealing Givenchy gown," as E! Online described it, and as the site suggested, concealment could only mean one thing.
On May 13, the New York Post went into full rumor mode, saying that "music insiders are chattering" about her newly-pregnant status, and noted that photos from her tour seem to reveal a baby bump.
On May 14, the singer postponed a concert in Belgium, saying in a statement she was "advised by her doctors to rest as a result of dehydration and exhaustion." She posted a note to her Tumblr page later in apology, noting "I've never postponed a show in my life."
Other celebrities like Russell Simmons are already taking the rumors as fact, and tweeting congrats.
People are just excited to read about Bey's comings and goings, as indicated by her recent controversial trip to Cuba with Jay-Z and the fact that the announcement of her first pregnancy -- on the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards -- set a Guinness World Record for most tweets per second related to a single event.
Meanwhile, Beyonce is unlikely to ease off of work any time soon, regardless of whatever announcement she may make. Other E! sources are saying the tour won't be affected by the rumored pregnancy.
Beyonce will be heard soon, though -- she's the voice of Queen Tara in the animated film "Epic," which opens in theaters on May 24.
Virgin America, the award-winning California-based airline, announces today that it has partnered with Silvercar, the company revolutionizing the car rental experience with its fleet of WiFi-enabled, premium Audi A4s, to offer Virgin America?s Elevate members a seamless and connected travel experience from air to ground.? Beginning today, Elevate frequent flyer members can earn 2,500 Elevate points on their first and fourth Silvercar rentals ? plus four points for every $1 spent with Silvercar.? As the only airline headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Virgin America has built a loyal following of frequent flyers for its tech-forward amenities, including WiFi, power outlets and touch-screen personal entertainment at every seat ? on every flight.? Using Virgin America?s fleetwide WiFi, travelers can now reserve a Silvercar via the Silvercar app or at Silvercar.com, and upon arrival at the destination airport, simply scan a QR code located on the windshield of the Silvercar to unlock the vehicle ? and drive to their final destination.
?Our discerning travelers expect access to the latest conveniences to fit their busy lifestyles,? said Luanne Calvert , Vice President of Marketing Communications at Virgin America.? ?Our new partnership with Silvercar allows us to provide our guests with a more high-tech, high-style and connected travel experience whether they?re on the ground or 35,000 feet in the air.?
The new partnership with Silvercar will provide Virgin America?s guests with more options for ground travel during their business trip or leisure getaway.? Silvercar operates a rental fleet comprised of only the latest model premium Audis ? 2013 A4s (in silver, of course).? Through the use of Silvercar?s mobile app (iOS or Android), travelers can take control of their rental experience and bypass paper contracts and lines all together. All Silvercar rentals include free in-car WiFi, Sirius XM satellite radio and Bluetooth. Upon return of the Silvercar, travelers receive their receipt on their smartphone ? before even boarding their Virgin America return flight home.
?We have a great affinity for Virgin America as they offer a tech-friendly experience for travelers that goes above and beyond the norm,? said Luke Schneider , CEO of Silvercar.? ?Silvercar was created to make car rental and travel not only easier, but an enjoyable experience. Virgin America does the same for air travel.? Known for outstanding service, beautifully designed cabins and unrivalled in-flight entertainment,. The airline?s new fleet offers custom-designed mood-lit cabins and amenities like fleetwide WiFi, power outlets and personal entertainment at every seat. The Red platform offers guests their own seatback touch-screen TV, with 25 films, live TV, a custom-curated You Tube channel, Google Maps, video games, seat-to-seat chat, music videos, a 4000 song library and an on-demand menu ? so flyers can order a cocktail or snack from their seatback any time during a flight.
Virgin America and Silvercar share markets in Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin.? Silvercar first launched on January 14, 2013, at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport with Austin as its second location following in March.
JOHANNESBURG, May 17 (IPS) - In December 2011, 159 governments and major international organisations recognised the central role of civil society in development and promised to create an "enabling" operating environment for the non-profit sector.
Mandeep Tiwana, policy and advocacy manager of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. Credit: Mandeep Tiwana
Despite the tall talk at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid and Development Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea, today NGOs, trade unions, faith based groups, social movements and community based organisations working to expose rights violations and corruption remain in a state of siege in many parts of the world.
Reports by U.N. officials and respected civil society organisations show that false prosecutions and murderous attacks on activists are rife and threatening to derail international development objectives even as we debate a new framework to replace the Millennium Development Goals, which expire in 2015.
In fact, moves are being championed by some governments to limit civil society participation at high-level meetings of the U.N. General Assembly through a process whereby states can issue politically motivated objections to the inclusion of particular NGOs in key discussions.
Unfortunately, legal restrictions on free speech, formation of civic organisations and the right to protest peacefully appear to be on the rise despite the rhetoric of engaging civil society in global decision making forums.
In many countries civil society groups are being prevented from accessing funding from international sources, as highlighted by the U.N.'s special expert on freedom of assembly and association in his latest report.
In Russia, non-profit advocacy groups receiving international funding are being subjected to intrusive inspections to ensure compliance with a controversial law that?requires NGOs to register under the highly offensive nomenclature of "foreign agents", or face sanctions.
A draft law currently pending in Bangladesh seeks to implement a cumbersome approval process for civil society organisations receiving foreign funding, in an attempt to discourage criticism of the government.
Egypt is mulling over a new law that would allow intelligence and security agencies to exert control over independent civil society groups.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia's most prolific blogger is serving an 18-year sentence for writing about the implications of the Arab Spring for his country. A respected Laotian activist is missing after he criticised state-sponsored displacement of local communities.
In Saudi Arabia, founders of the Saudi Association for Civil and Political Rights have been handed 10 and 11-year sentences for "breaking allegiance to the King." China continues to incarcerate dissident writers calling for democratic reform, including Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiobo.
The situation is alarming in fragile and conflict-affected states. As the civil war rages on in Syria, a number of peaceful civil society activists and journalists are being imprisoned and persecuted in violation of international human rights law.
The actions of?Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups have become so murderous that the country is now the deadliest place in the world for trade unionists.
Women's rights activists challenging patriarchy and religious fundamentalism in Pakistan are gunned down with frightening regularity, while activists from Sri Lanka and Bahrain voicing concerns at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva often face reprisals upon return to their home countries.
In Cameroon and Uganda activists seeking to advance gay rights are not only socially ostracised but also subjected to death threats on a regular basis to prevent them from carrying out their work.
Even in so-called mature democracies, expressing dissent remains an activity fraught with negative consequences. A section of the environmental group Forest Ethics Canada decided to give up its charitable status, including tax advantages, in order to protect itself from intrusive inspections after being blamed by the conservative government of "obstructing" the country's economic development.
Julian Assange, founder of the activist website WikiLeaks, continues to be hounded for his expos? of U.S. diplomatic cables and, arguably, doing what most investigative journalists do.
In the United Kingdom, the practice of police spies penetrating the environmental movement has prompted a sharp rebuke from the U.N., whose expert on freedom of assembly and association, Maina Kiai, expressed "deep concern" in January about police officers infiltrating non-violent groups who were not engaged in any criminal activities.
As evidence from CIVICUS' State of Civil Society Report 2013 shows, promises made in Busan about creating an "enabling" environment for CSOs were ignored as soon as the proverbial ink had dried.
With discussions on the post 2015 development agenda well underway, influential civil society groups are urging the U.N.'s High Level Panel to explicitly recognise the centrality of an enabling environment for civil society in any new formulation of internationally agreed development goals.
While politicians are currently preoccupied with kick-starting or maintaining economic growth, there is a real danger that civil society's right and ability to engage decision makers in various forums will be further limited.
If global development goals are to succeed, civil society needs to be able to operate free from fear of reprisals for advancing legitimate if uncomfortable concerns. After all, civil society groups contribute substantially to development strategies and help find innovative solutions to complex developmental challenges.
More importantly, they help ensure the representation of a wide range of voices, in particular those of the vulnerable and marginalised in development debates. Perhaps this is why they are being persecuted.
(END/COPYRIGHT IPS)
? Inter Press Service (2013) ? All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
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Civil Society Under Attack Around the World, Inter Press Service, Friday, May 17, 2013 (posted by Global Issues)
Nolan Ryan's son, Reid Ryan, has been named the next president of the Houston Astros on Friday.
George Postolos stepped down as the Astros president and CEO on Monday and Reid Ryan?s name surfaced late Wednesday night as a possible candidate.
Ryan was introduced in a news conference Friday.
Tal Smith, who was Astros team president from 1994-Nov. 2011 and spent more than 30 years as a baseball executive with the Astros feels adding Ryan is a solid move.
?A great choice,? said Smith. ?He?s been around the game his entire life and he?s accomplished in his own right. It?s good to have the Ryan name associated with the Astros again.?
Smith is currently a special adviser to the Sugar Land Skeeters.
?He?s personable and he can appeal to both fans and sponsors alike,? said Smith. ?And it will go a long way in mending fences.?
Ryan is credited with the idea of creating the Round Rock Express and Corpus Christi Hooks baseball clubs. He is actively involved in both serving as Founder and CEO for both the Express (Rangers)?and the Hooks (Astros).
Ryan also serves on the executive committee of the Pacific Coast League, on the Board of Trustees for Minor League Baseball and is the Board of Trustees representative for the Baseball Internet Rights Company (BIRCO).
Though the NFL has not seen a player die from on-field injuries in decades (Korey Stringer died in 2001 from heat exhaustion), tragedy often strikes at the lower levels of this sport.
It happened recently in Farmerville, Louisiana, to 17-year-old Jaleel Gipson (pictured).? A fullback, Gipson died after fracturing a vertebrate during ?Oklahoma drills? at Farmerville High School?s spring practices.? He was on life support for several days.
According to KNOE-TV, Bengals offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth has donated to the family the cost of Gipson?s funeral.? It?s a great gesture, and news of Whitworth?s generosity brought the story to our attention.
Now that we?re here, and speaking primarily as the father of a soon-to-be-17-year-old football player, why in the hell are high school kids doing Oklahoma drills in May, or ever?
The NFL stubbornly believes its rules will trickle down to the lower levels of the sport.? If so, the removal of contact from offseason workouts is trickling from Park Avenue to the Bayou at the rate of partially-frozen molasses.
Jaleel?s coach calls the incident an ?unlucky event,? which Jaleel?s family surely? would consider to be the biggest understatement of human history.? The health of our children shouldn?t be left to chance, not when the risk is avoidable.? While we realize that many frustrated, over-the-hill athletes regard high-school sports as having the same significance as the pro game, youth sports are played with children, not adults.
While the excessive zeal of some can undermine the good intentions of the many, it seems like every community has more than a few coaches whose obsession with winning clouds their judgment.? Or, in many cases, supplants it.
Try to remember that your players are our children.? They?re not your tickets to the glory days that have long since passed you by.? They?re our children.
Jaleel Gipson should be alive, and now his family has to deal for the rest of their lives with the fact that he isn?t.? While it?s very good and kind that Andrew Whitworth will pay for Jaleel?s funeral, this situation needs to spark a broader discussion in every school district about putting the same limits on offseason practices that the NFL has instituted.
That won?t bring Jaleel back, but it could protect other kids from suffering a similar fate.
Contact: Anne Stark stark8@llnl.gov 925-422-9799 DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The distortion of the ancient shoreline and flooding surface of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain are the direct result of fluctuations in topography in the region and could have implications on understanding long-term climate change, according to a new study.
Sedimentary rocks from Virginia through Florida show marine flooding during the mid-Pliocene Epoch, which correlates to approximately 4 million years ago. Several wave-cut scarps, (rock exposures) which originally would have been horizontal, are now draped over a warped surface with up to 60 meters variation.
Nathan Simmons of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and colleagues from the University of Chicago, Universit du Qubec Montral, Syracuse University, Harvard University and the University of Texas at Austin modeled the active topography using mantle convection simulations that predict the amplitude and broad spatial distribution of this distortion. The results imply that dynamic topography and, to a lesser extent, glacial adjustment, account for the current architecture of the coastal plain and nearby shelf.
The results appear in the May 16 edition of Science Express, and will appear at a later date in Science Magazine,
"Our simulations of dynamic topography of the Eastern Seaboard have implications for inferences of global long-term sea-level change," Simmons said.
The eastern coast of the United States is considered an archetypal Atlantic-type or passive-type continental margin.
"The highlight is that mantle flow is a major component in distorting the Earth's surface over geologic time, even in so-called 'passive' continental margins," Simmons said. "Reconstructing long-term global sea-level change based on stratigraphic relations must account for this effect. In other words, did the water level change or did the ground move? This could have implications on understanding very long-term climate change."
The mantle is not a passive player in determining long-term sea level changes. Mantle flow influences surface topography, through perturbations of the dynamic topography, in a manner that varies both spatially and temporally. As a result, it is it difficult to invert for the global long-term sea level signal and, in turn, the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, using east coast shoreline data.
Simmons said the new results provide another powerful piece of evidence that mantle flow is intimately involved in shaping the Earth's surface and must be considered when attempting to unravel numerous long-term Earth processes such as sea-level variations over millions of years.
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Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory provides solutions to our nation's most important national security challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
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Contact: Anne Stark stark8@llnl.gov 925-422-9799 DOE/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The distortion of the ancient shoreline and flooding surface of the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain are the direct result of fluctuations in topography in the region and could have implications on understanding long-term climate change, according to a new study.
Sedimentary rocks from Virginia through Florida show marine flooding during the mid-Pliocene Epoch, which correlates to approximately 4 million years ago. Several wave-cut scarps, (rock exposures) which originally would have been horizontal, are now draped over a warped surface with up to 60 meters variation.
Nathan Simmons of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and colleagues from the University of Chicago, Universit du Qubec Montral, Syracuse University, Harvard University and the University of Texas at Austin modeled the active topography using mantle convection simulations that predict the amplitude and broad spatial distribution of this distortion. The results imply that dynamic topography and, to a lesser extent, glacial adjustment, account for the current architecture of the coastal plain and nearby shelf.
The results appear in the May 16 edition of Science Express, and will appear at a later date in Science Magazine,
"Our simulations of dynamic topography of the Eastern Seaboard have implications for inferences of global long-term sea-level change," Simmons said.
The eastern coast of the United States is considered an archetypal Atlantic-type or passive-type continental margin.
"The highlight is that mantle flow is a major component in distorting the Earth's surface over geologic time, even in so-called 'passive' continental margins," Simmons said. "Reconstructing long-term global sea-level change based on stratigraphic relations must account for this effect. In other words, did the water level change or did the ground move? This could have implications on understanding very long-term climate change."
The mantle is not a passive player in determining long-term sea level changes. Mantle flow influences surface topography, through perturbations of the dynamic topography, in a manner that varies both spatially and temporally. As a result, it is it difficult to invert for the global long-term sea level signal and, in turn, the size of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, using east coast shoreline data.
Simmons said the new results provide another powerful piece of evidence that mantle flow is intimately involved in shaping the Earth's surface and must be considered when attempting to unravel numerous long-term Earth processes such as sea-level variations over millions of years.
###
Founded in 1952, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory provides solutions to our nation's most important national security challenges through innovative science, engineering and technology. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
When did the honeymoon end in your relationship? Was it the first time you realized that your mate wasn't all you had hoped for? Or maybe it was when you discovered that sometimes their cheerful optimism could turn to resentment or depression for no apparent reason. Do you remember your first fight? How about the first time that you wondered whether you had made a mistake in your selection of a partner? If you're typical, then you've had the experience of disappointment, frustration, confusion, resentment or helplessness more times than you'd care to admit since you exchanged vows.
If you're like most of us, you may have taken these feelings as an indication that something could be seriously out of line in our marriage or relationship. And if you're human, you've probably attempted to influence your partner's feeling, attitudes or behaviors only to discover that you'd now created a new problem.
Most of us spend between 12 and 20 years of our lives in school, yet nowhere are we really informed as to the specific requirements of sustaining and enhancing the quality of our relationships. We hope, believe or pray that despite our ignorance of the nature of interpersonal relationships that we can make it work anyway. And when the inevitable upsets arrive, we may feel defeated, angry, or despaired.
Though conflict may not be avoidable in marriage, it is not necessarily a foreshadowing of doom. Differences in opinions, feelings, temperaments, and even values are an inherent aspect of relationship. In fact, we generally select partners who will help us to expand our inner and outer lives by offering a life perspective that differs from our own. Unfortunately, opening up to these opportunities for growth can be excruciatingly uncomfortable. Often it is easier to tell ourselves that "it's just not meant to be." And yet how many of us are acquainted with couples who called it quits in frustration, only to turn around and play out the same pattern with another person?
What if the object of relationships was not to eliminate or even minimize conflict but to work with it in an effective, responsible and conscious way? What if each breakdown that occurred between you held the seeds of the possibility of becoming a more loving and wiser person? What if your experience of your relationship had more to do with you than it did with your partner? What if there were no mistakes or wrong choices in the selection of a mate, and you really do have the perfect partner for the lessons that you're in this relationship to learn?
The purpose of these questions is to generate an inquiry and to begin the process of going beyond the models, expectations, and beliefs we all have about relationships. In this way, we discover and create new possibilities. The biggest barrier in the development of a high-functioning partnership is our own preconceived beliefs about being in relationship.
Observing the suffering of other couples that are struggling in their marriages, it's easy to presume that things inevitably break down sooner or later and that for most couples, the breakdown is permanent. It's easy to wonder, "Who's next? Is it us?" The tendency to feel resignation and hopelessness in the face of fear is a choice, often made out of a desire to avoid looking more directly at some of the more difficult questions, such as:
"How might I have contributed to the current situation?" "What beliefs about myself or others might I be validating by holding on to my position?" "What is it that I'm so attached to being right about and why?" "What, if anything, might I have done that I need to reveal to my partner?" "What fear is underneath my fear of losing (or staying in) this relationship?" "What unfulfilled needs or desires have I failed to disclose to my partner, and why?" "What forms of manipulation (examples: intimidation, nagging, fault-finding, guilt-tripping, shaming, raging, withdrawing) have I used to try to coerce my partner into accommodating my desires?" "Am I making my partner responsible for fulfilling needs within myself that are my responsibility and not theirs?"
The common thread that runs through all of these questions is that they are all self-referential. They require us to redirect the focus of our attention away from our partner and look instead at ourselves, to look at our part in the chain of events that led us to the point where we currently stand. Doing so does not absolve them of their responsibility in the breakdown, but it empowers us to focus our energies on the only person that we have the power to influence in this scenario, and that is ourselves.
Taking our attention off of our partner will enable us to embody a higher level of vulnerability and encourage them to them to feel less defensive and consequently more inclined to listen to our concerns and needs with a more conciliatory attitude. Such openness is likely to promote a greater likelihood that he or she will be more willing to reciprocate by responding more non-adversarially themselves, thus interrupting the cycle of defensiveness that turns ordinary differences into destructive conflict.
There is, of course, no guarantee that their response will be reciprocal. Our vulnerability is merely an invitation to respond with vulnerability. It is not assurance that such a response will be forthcoming. There is, however, no better way to find out how willing your partner is to undefend themselves than by providing an example for what this can look like by disarming yourself of your own defenses.
When we can interrupt these patterns, we can move beyond the concerns of day-to-day survival and raise new questions having to do with greater possibilities, such as, "How great could our relationship really be?" Once we understand that there is so much more that is possible than we may have previously realized, old dreams are reawakened and new ones come into being along with a newfound confidence to implement them.
Paradoxically, it's only when we accept that there is no magic involved in the process of relationship building, and no perfect partner with whom we can effortlessly co-create the partnership of our dreams, that we begin to experience the degree of ease and joy that we had previously hoped for. But first we need to free ourselves of our limiting beliefs and expectations. Like the saying goes, to find the partner of your dreams, you must first become the partner of your dreams. In so doing you will become irresistible to that person that you have been waiting for, whether you haven't met them yet or whether you've been married to them for 30 years!
For more by Linda Bloom, LCSW, and Charlie Bloom, MSW, click here.
For more on conscious relationships, click here.
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The National Transportation Safety Board is proposing that the legal limit for a driver's blood-alcohol content be reduced from 0.08 to 0.05. Critics say it's the wrong focus for anti-drunk driving efforts.
By Ryan Lenora Brown,?Correspondent / May 15, 2013
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Deborah Hersman speaks during a news conference in Washington, on Feb. 7. Federal accident investigators were weighing a recommendation Tuesday that states reduce their threshold for drunken driving from the current .08 blood alcohol content to .05, a standard that has been shown to substantially reduce highway deaths in other countries.
Ann Heisenfelt/AP/File
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On its surface, the recommendation seems simple: reduce the legal limit for blood-alcohol content (BAC), and drunken-driving fatalities will fall, too.
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Jeff Glor reports on the National Transportation Safety Board's new suggestions for lowering the blood alcohol limit by nearly half -- and the objections they're receiving from the beverage and hospitality industries.
But nearly as soon as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) made that proposal Tuesday, a chorus of dissent began. Lower the BAC limit, critics argued, and you criminalize responsible social drinkers ? and do little to make the roads safer.
And the opposition came from some unlikely corners.
?As a mother whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver, the most important thing to me is that we save as many lives as we can as soon as possible,? says Jan Withers, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). ?The issue with lowering the legal limit is that it will take a lot of effort for a potential result that is many, many years down the line.?
While MADD doesn?t oppose the idea of lowering the legal limit in principle, it?s the wrong place for the government to focus its efforts against drunken driving now, she says. It?s a critique mirrored by many involved with drunken-driving policy issues.
The NTSB is proposing that the legal limit for BAC be reduced from its current level of 0.08 to 0.05.
There?s no neat correlation between blood-alcohol level and drinks consumed, but in general, a 140-pound person could consume three drinks and fall below the 0.08 ceiling, and a 180-pound person four. But if the limit were set at 0.05, that would drop to two drinks or less for the smaller person and three for the larger.?
?The fact is, many alcohol-involved traffic incidents aren't caused by alcoholics, but just people who had one too many, and lowering the legal limit helps deter those people,? says Thomas Babor, an expert on alcohol abuse at the University of Connecticut?s medical school in Farmington. ?
Indeed, both supporters and critics of the NTSB recommendation agree on that point: Drunken drivers shouldn?t be on the road. But how you make that happen is a sticking point.
According to the NTSB, a driver with a BAC of 0.05 is 38 percent more likely to be in a crash as compared with a completely sober driver, and a driver with a level of 0.08 is 169 percent more likely. (The figure rises to nearly 400 percent when the driver has a BAC of 0.10.)
At 0.05, individuals are ?as distracted as you are when you have the radio up too loud,? says Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute, a trade organization.
One of the smaller?but nonetheless incredibly useful?new updates from Google is a series of actions buttons in Gmail which will help you handle tasks without having to send more messages or leave your inbox.
The Construction Lamp looks like oil derricks you see dotting the landscape in parts of Texas. Their industrial aesthetic is the result of the designer Joost van Bleiswijk playing with the nuts, bolts, and tools in his workshop as though he was still a kid.
May 15, 2013 ? Paper, being a light and foldable raw material, is a cost-efficient and simple means of generating electrically conducting structures.
Paper is becoming a high-tech material. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam-Golm have created targeted conductive structures on paper using a method that is quite simple: with a conventional inkjet printer, they printed a catalyst on a sheet of paper and then heated it. The printed areas on the paper were thereby converted into conductive graphite. Being an inexpensive, light and flexible raw material, paper is therefore highly suitable for electronic components in everyday objects.
Cost-efficient and flexible microchips are opening up applications in the electronics sector for which silicon chips are too expensive or difficult to make, and for which RFID chips, now available on a widespread basis, simply do not suffice: clothes, for instance, that monitor bodily functions, flexible screens, or labels that give more information about a product then can be printed on the packaging.
Although many scientists around the world are successfully developing flexible chips, they have been forced to almost always rely on plastics as the carrier and, in some cases, use polymers and other organic molecules as conductive components. These materials may meet many requirements; however, they are all, without exception, sensitive to heat. "Their processing cannot be integrated into the usual production of electronics, because temperatures in production can reach over 400 degrees Celsius," says Cristina Giordano, who leads a working group at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and as now come up with an alternative solution.
Paper electronics enables three-dimensional conductive structures
Carbon electronics, which Giordano and her colleagues create from paper, can withstand temperatures of around 800 degrees Celsius during production in an oxygen-free environment, and would not have a negative impact on established processes. And that is not the only trump card of paper-based electronics. The light and inexpensive material can be processed very easily, even into three-dimensional conductive structures.
The Potsdam-based researchers convert the cellulose of the paper into graphite with iron nitrate serving as the catalyst. "Using a commercial inkjet printer, we print a solution of the catalyst in a fine pattern on a sheet of paper," says Stefan Glatzel, who is responsible for bringing electronics to paper in his doctoral thesis. If the researchers then heat the sheets that were printed with a catalyst to 800 degrees Celsius in a nitrogen atmosphere, the cellulose will continue to release water until all that remains is pure carbon. Whereas an electrically conducting mixture of regularly structured carbon sheets of graphite and iron carbide forms in the printed areas, the non-printed areas are left behind as carbon without a regular structure, and they are less conductive.
That actual, precisely formed conducting paths are created in this way was demonstrated by the researchers in a simple experiment: First, they printed the catalyst on a sheet of paper in the pattern of Minerva, the subtle symbol of the Max Planck Society. The printed pattern was then converted into graphite. They then used the graphite Minerva as a cathode, which was electrolytically coated with copper. The metal was only deposited on the lines sketched by the printer.
An origami crane dressed in copper
In another experiment, the team in Potsdam demonstrated how three-dimensional, conductive structures can be created using their method. For this experiment, the team folded a sheet of paper into an origami crane. This was then immersed in the catalyst and baked into graphite. "The three-dimensional form was completely retained, but consisted entirely of conductive carbon after the process," says Stefan Glatzel. He demonstrated this again by electrolytically coating the origami bird with copper. The entire crane subsequently had a copper sheen.
Finally, the actual process of the catalytic conversion was illustrated by the Max Planck scientists. Using a transmission electron microscope, they made a film of the process, observing how the catalyst journeyed through the paper in the form of nano droplets of an iron-carbon molten mixture, leaving graphite in its wake. This aspect, too, might be interesting for possible applications of the process. The better the understanding of chemists when it comes to what actually happens during the process, the better they can control the reaction. And this does not only apply to the production of paper electronics, but also to the manufacture of carbon nanotubes, where iron has been used as a catalyst for quite some time already.
Graphene structures from thin paper
This video of the graphite formation gave the researchers a comprehensive insight into catalytic conversion. Starting from these results, they are now trying to end a dispute over the mechanism behind the conversion. Some of their colleagues assume that the reaction takes place in a solid state. "Our study, however, shows that molten metal, or a so-called eutectic, is formed," says Giordano. "We observed something interesting here, as iron itself does not melt until temperatures of about 1500 degrees are reached."
Why the mixture of iron and carbon melts at relatively low temperatures is now being examined more closely by Giordano and her team. It may be possible to use this effect in other areas. Moreover, the researchers intend to further explore the potential of paper electronics. Here, they do not just want to exploit the magnetic properties of the material, which are a result of the iron carbide. By reducing the paper strength and subtly controlling the process, they also want to create conducting paths from graphene; by "graphene," they are referring to one of the carbon sheets that are stacked on top of each other in the graphite. "We will also combine graphite with other materials," explains Giordano. The inkjet printer makes this possible -- it is from the printer's cartridges that iron nitrate solutions, as well as solutions from other metal salts or dispersions containing metal particles finely distributed in water can be brought to paper.
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Mandeep Tiwana, policy and advocacy manager of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. Credit: Mandeep Tiwana
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Public release date: 16-May-2013
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