Moon-gazers were treated to the longest lunar eclipse in 11 years last night, with the total eclipse phase lasting 100 minutes. Well, moon-gazers in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, that is. Americans missed out on a truly spectacular occurrence, thanks to the fact that this was a “deep lunar eclipse….
Continue reading …
Campaigners call for a 20% quota of black models at São Paulo fashion week in Brazil It is the leading fashion event in one of the most racially diverse nations on Earth, a week-long celebration of Brazilian style, glamour and beauty. But the lack of indigenous and Afro-Brazilian faces on the catwalk at São Paulo fashion week has triggered protests and calls for a 20% quota of black models. “We cannot accept the world of fashion insisting on being a stronghold for the Eurocentric,” said Frei Davi Santos, the Brazilian race campaigner behind the protests. “São Paulo fashion week sells the image of a Swiss Brazil where everyone is white and blue-eyed. The organisers … forget that more than half of Brazil’s population is black.” There is growing dissent over the tiny number of Afro-Brazilian models reaching the top of the country’s booming fashion industry. While models of European descent such as Gisele Bündchen have exploded on to the global fashion scene, few Afro-Brazilians get a similarly high level of exposure. An inquiry by São Paulo’s public prosecutor in 2008 found that of the 1,128 models booked for fashion week that year just 28 were black. In the wake of the inquiry the event’s organisers agreed to a voluntary two-year quota of 10% for black models. But according to reports in the Brazilian press many fashion labels have ignored the quota at this year’s event. An article by Vivian Whiteman, fashion editor of the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo, noted that bookers claimed they were not hiring more black models because “research showed their clients still reject the combination of black [models] and luxury clothing”. Bruno Soares, an Afro-Brazilian booker at the São Paulo event, told the newspaper the lack of catwalk diversity was the result of “cruel rules” imposed on models by the fashion market. “For historical reasons Brazil’s black population has been poor and not a consumer of fashion. This is reflected in the casting,” he said. Oskar Metsavaht, one of Brazil’s leading designers, claimed he had hoped to field an all-black lineup of models in his show this year but had been unable to recruit a sufficient number of “top” black models . “I asked everyone for help but there were just not enough experienced professionals,” said Metsavaht, creative director of the label Osklen, whose 2012 summer collection, Royal Black, is inspired by Brazil’s African heritage. Santos added that while racial inclusion had advanced considerably in higher education, with more than 160 public universities now supporting racial quotas, the fashion industry lagged behind. She said: “According to the latest census we blacks represent 50.8% of the Brazilian population. This means an event which presents a majority of people with typically European characteristics does not represent the beauty and wealth of Brazilian ethnicity. Brazil is a country that still insists on emphasising its European side and discriminating against its beautiful indigenous and Afro-Brazilian populations. We do not want catwalks that look like catwalks in Switzerland or England.” Brazil Models Race issues Fashion weeks Fashion Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Al-Qaeda has officially filled the opening left by Osama bin Laden, announcing that Ayman al-Zawahiri will take over as head of the terror organization. The move was widely expected, as Zawahiri had long served as bin Laden’s second-in-command. “The general command of al-Qaeda announces, after consultations, the appointment of Sheikh…
Continue reading …To say that Newt Gingrich is not happy may be a bit of an understatement. In an interview with Greta van Susteren last night on Fox News, Gingrich ripped his “backstabbing” ex-staff members for criticizing his wife , calling it “despicable” and claiming that they just didn’t like the fact that…
Continue reading …
New York congressman finally steps down as US Democrats try to limit impact ‘Weinergate’ has on 2012 presidential race Twenty days after the scandal dubbed “Weinergate” erupted with the sending of a sexually suggestive photograph on Twitter, a rising star of the Democrats was forced to resign his congressional seat in the face of pressure from the highest levels of his party. From having been ranked as a possible future Democratic leader and the frontrunner to become New York mayor in 2013, Anthony Weiner’s fall from grace is spectacular and close to complete. He has spent his entire adult life in politics, having been elected in 1991 as the youngest councillor to serve in New York city then aged 27. True to his character as an abrasive and at times antagonistic politician, Weiner, now 46, at first tried to lie his way out of the sex scandal he had provoked by sending lewd photographs of himself to several different women. When the rightwing blogger Andrew Breitbart revealed his actions on 28 May, Weiner initially claimed his Twitter account had been hacked into, later changing his story to say he wasn’t sure whether the images of a semi-naked man were of him. After further revelations emerged virtually every day of his sexually charged interactions, he went in front of the cameras on 6 June to admit that he had been involved through cyberspace with at least six different women. But even then he refused to stand down from his New York seat. The fall-out from the billowing scandal rose to the top of the Democratic party. On Monday, President Obama said that “if it was me, I would resign”. Bill Clinton has also taken a direct role in pushing Weiner. The former president has reportedly been “livid” about Weiner’s behaviour, despite Clinton’s own history of sexual peccadilloes. The Clintons are intricately linked with Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin. Bill Clinton officiated at their wedding, Abedin is a close aide to the secretary of state Hillary Clinton, and Abedin’s best friend Doug Band is Bill’s top adviser. “The decision for Weiner to go was taken on a presidential level, by the existing and a past president,” said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant who has worked on campaigns for Bill Clinton. “It was a straight political decision.” The views of Abedin, who is pregnant with their first child, were also likely to have been crucial. She returned on Wednesday from a trip to the Middle East with Clinton and was in discussions with her husband before his announcement. Weiner’s resignation was made on the day that party leaders had been preparing to strip him of his powerful positions on congressional committees — a move which would have further humiliated and weakened him. The official line taken by party leaders such as Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic chief in the House of Representatives who has called on him to resign, was that the scandal was distracting attention from important political debates such as the economy. But the timing of the imbroglio has also been deeply painful for the party, coming as it does in the middle of a sensitive period in which the coffers for next year’s presidential race are being filled. Key fundraisers have been heard complaining that donors were being turned off by the salacious revelations. Weiner might have found it easier to weather the storm in the face of relentless media exposure and ridicule had he had more friends within the party hierarchy. But his famously outspoken and irascible style earned him few mentors within Congress or the White House. Despite the almost universal pressure on him to go, there remain those in the party who lamented Weiner’s passing as a prominent liberal politician who was prepared to speak out on core left-wing principles. “He was a firebrand, an independent voice. Yes, he was a little quirky and he had an ego, but at least on the issues that liberals care about he was upfront,” said Democratic strategist Victor Kamber. Weiner now faces a bleak future. With no training as a lawyer or media figure behind him, there is nowhere obvious for him to go, unlike Eliot Spitzer, the disgraced former governor of New York who is now a CNN presenter. Sheinkopf predicted it would be at least 10 years “if ever” before Weiner could contemplate a comeback in politics. He said: “What does a person who has spent every day of his life in politics do after a fall like this? It will be a welcome relief for him to be out of the political spotlight for a while, but after that he’ll miss it.” Anthony Weiner US politics Democrats Barack Obama Bill Clinton New York Ed Pilkington guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
US president rejects suggestion from John Boehner that formal approval of Congress was needed before taking military action Barack Obama has vigorously defended his right to take military action in Libya without the formal approval of Congress after Republican leaders challenged his authority amid growing suspicion on the right of costly foreign military operations. This week the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, wrote to Obama telling him that, under the 1973 war powers act, the president was obliged to seek congressional approval for the Libyan venture before Friday. The White House responded by saying the law, which states there must be a vote in the legislature within 90 days of the president taking the US to war, did not apply because American participation in the Nato bombing did not amount to full-blown war. The issue has united liberals opposed to foreign military ventures with fiscal conservatives – including some Tea Party supporters who want to see drastic cuts in military spending – although other Republicans say defence should be protected from budgetary restraints. The dispute is unlikely to have any immediate effect on US involvement in the Libyan operation, but it is becoming an increasingly sharp political issue as next year’s presidential election kicks in, with some members of Congress going so far as to file a lawsuit accusing Obama of breaking the law. Boehner, the speaker of the House, added to that pressure earlier this week when he wrote to the president to tell him that refusing to comply with a congressional request to seek authorisation for military action in Libya appeared to violate the war powers act. “The combination of [White House] actions has left many members of Congress, as well as the American people, frustrated by the lack of clarity over the administration’s strategic policies, by a refusal to acknowledge and respect the role of the Congress, and by a refusal to comply with the basic tenets of the War Powers Resolution,” Boehner said in the letter. The White House has responded with a 38-page report to members of Congress, describing the Libya operation not as war, but a mission to remove Muammar Gaddafi from power. The American administration says that since Nato took over command of the operation in April its role has largely been restricted to supporting military action by Britain, France and others with refuelling and surveillance missions. But it acknowledges that remotely controlled drones, of the type used in Pakistan and Yemen, are also used to fire missiles at times. “US operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve US ground troops,” the report said. Boehner dismissed the White House position on Thursday. “It doesn’t pass the straight-face test in my view that we’re not in the midst of hostilities,” Boehner said. “It’s been four weeks since the president has talked to the American people about this mission. I think it’s time for the president to outline for the American people why we are there, what the mission is and what our goals are.” The House speaker said that Republican leaders are considering their options including “the power of the purse”. A major concern for the Republicans is the cost, after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the US’s ballooning deficit. The White House report says the assault on Libya will have cost the US $1.1bn by the time the latest phase of the Nato operation ends in September. Some more liberal members of Congress say the US has no business intervening in foreign conflicts. On Wednesday 10 members of Congress from both parties asked the courts to order Obama to withdraw American forces from the Libya operation. The author of the lawsuit, Dennis Kucinich , said the White House’s arguments about the degree of involvement did not stand up to scrutiny. “Look, we’re at war. There’s already been $750m spent,” he said. “Whether there are boots on the ground or not doesn’t really get into the question of whether or not the president had the ability [to intervene] in the first place. It’s a constitutional issue here, and it can’t be danced around at all.” Another member of Congress, California Democrat Lynn Woolsey, accused the administration of showing “contempt for the constitution”. The war powers act was passed in 1973 amid a backlash against the abuse of presidential authority during the Vietnam war – including the secret and illegal bombing of Cambodia – and over the veto of President Richard Nixon. It requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of sending the military in to action. If those forces are to remain in action for more than 90 days, the legislation requires that the president seek the approval of Congress. The act has been ignored by several presidents, and some administrations have questioned its constitutionality. However, the Obama White House said that it recognises that the law is legal but argues that it does not apply. Barack Obama Obama administration US Congress Libya John Boehner United States US politics Nato Middle East Africa Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …French people proud of their country’s wine-making heritage may be surprised to learn that their nation holds one of the oldest beer-making sites ever found in Europe. The Celtic people who inhabited what is now the Provence region appear to have been just as fond of beer as they were…
Continue reading …Nancy Pelosi, John Boehner, and stripper Ginger Lee have got something in common: They all think Anthony Weiner should step down. Lee, a former porn actress, says she exchanged more than a hundred messages with Weiner but she was discussing politics and didn’t respond in kind to his suggestive emails….
Continue reading …Two men equipped with rope, a body bag and a sword were nailed by British police outside the home of soul singer Joss Stone, according to investigators. The men are being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery and cause grievous bodily harm. Stone was inside the home with…
Continue reading …
GMG chief executive says newspaper group aims for ‘major transformation’ as he announces £33m cash losses for last year The Guardian and Observer lost £33m in cash terms last year, the chief executive of Guardian Media Group has said, as he committed the newspaper group to a “digital-first” strategy in which digital revenues would double to nearly £100m by 2016. Andrew Miller, giving a series of presentations to staff at the titles, said that the aim was to achieve “a major transformation” at the newspapers – including lifting digital revenues from an expected £47m in the current financial year to £91m in 2015/16 – because “doing nothing was not an option”. He warned that parent company Guardian Media Group could run out of cash in three to five years if the business operations did not change – although the company is able sell assets to generate more reserves – and said that the newspapers would aim to save £25m over the next five years – releasing funds to be reinvested in other activities. No plans for job losses were announced, and Miller indicated that the editorial budget for the Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk website network – which includes MediaGuardian.co.uk – would remain unchanged this year and next. However, any new initiatives – such as a planned move to create a US digital edition later this year – would have to be paid for from existing budgets. The Guardian, Observer and guardian.co.uk employ 1,500 staff across all departments and 630 journalists. The Guardian editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, said that the newspaper needed to embrace an “open” digital philosophy in which it embraced contributions from beyond the ranks of its own journalists, and posed the question whether the titles could spend 80% of their focus and attention on digital. Rusbridger said: “Every newspaper is on a journey into some kind of digital future. That doesn’t mean getting out of print, but it does require a greater focus of attention, imagination and resource on the various forms that digital future is likely to take.” He also indicated that there would be a redesign of the Guardian’s Monday to Friday editions later this year. Based on research that showed that half of readers read the newspaper in the evening, the aim was to create a title that would be “as relevant at 9am as 9pm”. It would focus less on breaking news and instead aim to emulate “Newsnight not News at Ten”. Unaudited results for the year ending 31 March showed that revenues at Guardian News & Media, the immediate parent of the newspapers and guardian.co.uk, fell to £198m last year compared with £221m the year before, a fall in revenues that reflected a sharp fall in classified advertising. Recruitment advertising has fallen by £41m in the past four years. On an underlying basis, as measured by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, the Guardian and Observer lost £22m, but the cash loss, a more accurate measure of financial performance, was larger at £33m. That is similar to last year’s level, when the newspapers made an operating loss of £34.4m. Miller said that Guardian Media Group’s financial portfolio “offers stability” and would help the newspapers navigate the transition to an increasingly digital marketplace without the need for significant overall reductions in costs. GMG had cash and investment fund reserves of £197.5m available, after a year in which the investment fund grew by £12m. GMG may also be able to access funds from Auto Trader, which produced unspecified “record profits” last year. A refinancing raised £150m for the business, which is jointly owned by Guardian Media Group and Apax Partners, and if there are no immediate investment opportunities for Auto Trader, that cash could be shared between the owners as a dividend. •
Continue reading …