FIJI LIVE - Jolie hailed for Balkan war film debut, Dec 11, 2011

"Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie has won praise for her directing debut -- a powerful story of love amid the atrocities of the Bosnian war -- from both film critics and victims' relatives.
The Hollywood "A" lister is used to being feted for her performances in films ranging from "Girl, Interrupted" -- which won her the best supporting actress Academy Award in 2000 -- to the "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" movies.
But she has also been an ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees since 2001, and has drawn on that experience in the making of "In the Land of Blood and Honey," due out in the United States later this month."

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FIJI LIVE - Bale says his Chinese film not propaganda, Dec 11, 2011

"Oscar winning actor Christian Bale defended Sunday the upcoming Nanjing Massacre film "The Flowers of War," by China's most famous director, Zhang Yimou, as more than an anti-Japanese propaganda film.
In the film, Bale plays an American drifter who becomes the unwitting protector of a group of Chinese schoolgirls and prostitutes trying to escape the Japanese army's brutal sacking of China's wartime capital.
The Nanjing Massacre, in which Japanese troops killed tens of thousands of Chinese civilians, is an episode from history that Japan has never acknowledged to China's satisfaction.

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NZ HERALD - $21m fraud case: Kiwi arrested, Dec 11, 2011

"A New Zealander alleged to have defrauded Queensland taxpayers of $21 million (A$16m) has been found by police in Brisbane.
Hohepa Morehu-Barlow, 36, is accused of siphoning off funds destined for charities including the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the Cancer Council Queensland and the Cerebral Palsy League during his time as financial manager at Queensland Health.
The fraud is believed to have started two to three years ago, with one sum of A$11 million stolen in the past two weeks."

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ABC Australia - Russians rally to demand new elections, Dec 11, 2011

"Tens of thousands of Russians have taken to the streets demanding an end to Vladimir Putin's rule and a re-run of last weekend's election.
The protesters staged the opposition's biggest protest rally since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
They waved banners such as "The rats should go" and "Swindlers and thieves - give us our elections back" in cities from the Pacific port of Vladivostok in the east to Kaliningrad in the west, nearly 7,400 kilometres away."

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Australian Broadcasting Corporation - Nobel Peace Prize women receive awards, Dec 11, 2011

"Liberia's president, a fellow Liberian and a Yemeni activist received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Saturday for showing how women facing war and oppression can shed the mantle of victimhood and lead the way to peace and democracy.
"You represent one of the most important motive forces for change in today's world: the struggle for human rights in general and the struggle of women for equality and peace in particular," Norwegian Nobel Committee president Thorbjoern Jagland said before handing out the prestigious award.
At the lavish ceremony in a colourfully flower-decked Oslo city hall, and with Norway's royal family and other dignitaries in attendance, Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, her compatriot and "peace warrior" Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni Arab Spring activist Tawakkol Karman received their gold medal and diploma."

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LA TIMES - Ron Fletcher dies at 90; opened West Coast's first Pilates studio, Dec 11, 2011

"Ron Fletcher, a former dancer and choreographer who helped popularize the Pilates exercise system when he opened the first West Coast studio in 1972, died Tuesday at his home in Stonewall, Texas. He was 90.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said Kyria Sabin, director of Fletcher Pilates, which trains instructors in the exercise methods Fletcher developed based on the teachings of Joseph and Clara Pilates.

Forty years ago, few people outside of New York, where the Pilates method was first taught, had heard of the unusual fitness regimen, which involved strange-looking machines and movements similar to yoga and calisthenics. Today it is practiced by millions of people around the world, a popularity due in part to the celebrity buzz that surrounded Fletcher's Beverly Hills studio."
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LA TIMES - Bob Burnett dies at 71; member of folk group the Highwaymen, Dec 11, 2011

"The members of the folk group the Highwaymen were freshmen in the same fraternity at Wesleyan University in Connecticut when they came together to perform at a campus party in 1958.
By their senior year, the quintet had a No. 1 single with their haunting version of the African American spiritual "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore," which was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1961.
Although the group had a significant impact on the folk scene in the early 1960s — turning "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "All My Trials" into folk standards — the Highwaymen disbanded in 1964 when Bob Burnett and two other members decided to attend graduate school."  

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Reporter News - Pearl Harbor survivor dies on same date, Dec 11, 2011

"WACO — World War II veteran Frank Curre died Wednesday, exactly 70 years after surviving the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Curre, who served in the Navy, died after battling mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos exposure, for more than a year.
The Waco native was 88 years old.
Curre was a mess cook aboard the USS Tennessee at Pearl Harbor when the naval base was bombarded. Curre later was assigned to the USS Petrof Bay during the war and he participated in attacks at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
"It's like he held on for today, which is his special day," Curre's daughter, Linda Lee, said Wednesday. "He was very much a family man. He taught us family values, patriotism and love for our country."    

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Society's Child - Sott.netPlane Crashes into Philippine Slum Killing 12, Dec 11, 2011

"A four-seater cargo plane crashed into a crowded Philippine slum on Saturday, sparking a fire that killed 12 people including three children and left at least another 20 injured, officials said.
The crash killed the pilot and co-pilot, while the rest of the victims are thought to be residents of the shanty town, said police chief inspector Enrique Sy.
"The plane struck one house but the others also went up in flames. These are informal settlers, packed into rows of houses," Sy told reporters"

The Philippine Star News - 14 killed as plane crashes into slum area, Dec 11, 2011

"MANILA, Philippines - A four-seater cargo plane crashed into a slum area in Parañaque City yesterday, triggering an inferno that left at least 14 people, including two children, dead and scores injured, officials said.
Mayor Florencio Bernabe said rescuers recovered the charred bodies of at least 12 people, including two victims believed to be the pilot and co-pilot of the twin engine Beechcraft light plane.
Bernabe said there were also reports that 20 people have been rushed to different hospitals. Most of the victims were brought to the Parañaque Doctors Hospital and Parañaque Community Hospital along the South Luzon Expressway."

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Fox News - Qaddafi's Son Denies Plot To Sneak Into Mexico, Dec 11, 2011

"CAIRO -- The son of slain Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi "vigorously denies" having plotted to illegally sneak into Mexico to escape his home country after the fall of his father's regime, his lawyer said Friday.
Al-Saadi Qaddafi fled to the neighboring country of Niger in September and the government there has given him refugee status. Mexico claimed on Wednesday that al-Saadi and three relatives also had initiated plans to sneak into Mexico under false names and take clandestine refuge at a Pacific coast resort."

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ONE STEP4ward - Top 5 Best Places to See A Show in the World, Dec 11, 2011

"When movies, bars and restaurants become a little too familiar to fill your evenings with, it’s time to branch out and experience something new. I was in this situation in Bangkok myself recently, so I googled what to do in the evenings – I ended up taking my girlfriend to one of the most awesome shows I’ve ever been to. This sparked my interest and I promised to endeavor to see some more around the world, check out my top 5 places to see a show around the world:"

 

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NOKIA Conversations - BEST Videos in the World, Dec 11, 2011

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NZ HERALD - Panic as earthqake shakes Mexico, Dec 11, 2011

"A 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck in Mexico's western Guerrero state Saturday night, shaking buildings and causing panic in the nation's capital and the Pacific resort of Acapulco. Officials said at least three people died, but there were no reports of widespread damage.
The US Geological Service initially estimated the quake at magnitude at 6.8, but downgraded it to 6.7 and then 6.5. A quake of that magnitude is capable of causing severe damage, although the depth of this temblor lessened its impact.
The USGS said the quake occurred at a depth of 64.9 kilometres. It was centred about 42 kilometres southwest of Iguala in Guerrero and 166 kilometres south-southwest of Mexico City."
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FIJI LIVE Sports - Waqa happy with first leg outing, Dec 11, 2011

"Fiji 7s manager and assistant coach, Etuwate Waqa is happy with the side’s outing in the first leg of the 2011/12 HSBC World 7s Series.
Fiji won the Gold Coast 7s, and lost to England in the quarters in both the Dubai and South Africa 7s
Despite the loss in South Africa, the Fiji side has maintained its lead in the Series standing but now tied with SA 7s winners, New Zealand in first place with 51 points.
“We did what we wanted to do and that was to make the top three in the Series standing,” Waqa said.
“We could have done better in Dubai and George, the boys are disappointed they let Fiji down but we’re still in first place. We might be tied with New Zealand but its first place regardless.”"
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FIJI LIVE- Britons back Cameron's EU veto, Dec 11, 2011

"A majority of Britons think Prime Minister David Cameron was right to veto a new EU treaty to resolve the eurozone debt crisis at a Brussels summit this week, a new poll revealed today.

The survey for the Mail on Sunday newspaper found 62 percent support for Cameron's move, which was roundly welcomed by Britain's eurosceptic press, with only 19 percent saying he was wrong.
A larger proportion, 66 percent, said they wanted a referendum on Britain's ties with the EU as demanded by many in Cameron's Conservative party, and the same number said London should renegotiate its relationship with Brussels." ALEXANDER LANGUAGE SCHOOLS <

FIJI LIVE - Anti-Putin rallies spread across Russia, Dec 11, 2011

"Over 50,000 people rallied Saturday in Moscow while thousands more came out across Russia following disputed polls in the biggest ever national show of defiance against strongman Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule.
A crowd chanting "Russia without Putin" marched past tight police cordons to a square on an island in the Moscow river amid anger at alleged vote-rigging in December 4 parliamentary elections won by Vladimir Putin's ruling party.
The polls were seen as a test of Putin's decision to return to the Kremlin for up to 12 more years via a job swap with Medvedev." ALEXANDER LANGUAGE SCHOOLS