The chance was in favor of Steaua Bucharest in the third preliminary round for the Champions League, the next game being against the Belarusian team Bate Borisov. Both Steaua and Bate are, practically, qualified to the CL games, winning the first game abroad in the second round.
Less fortunate was Dinamo Bucharest, which will meet one of the most difficult opponents in the preliminaries, Lazio Roma.
The third round:
Winner of the Hafnarfjordur vs. Bate Borisov game against the winner of the Steaua vs. Zaglebie Lubin game (both Steaua and Bate won the first game and now are to play at home)
Winner of the Tampere - Levski Sofia game vs. Rosenborg
Spartak Moscow - Celtic
Werder Bremen - Domzale or Dinamo Zagreb
Ajax - Zilina or Slavia Praga
Valencia - Debrecen sau Elfsborg
Sevilla - AEK Atena
Ventspils or Salzburg - Piunik or Sahtior
Genk or Sarajevo - Dinamo Kiev
Fenerbahce - Anderlecht
Rangers or Zeta - Red Star Belgrad or Levadia Tallin
Toulouse - Liverpool
Benfica - Copenhaga or Beitar Ierusalim
Lazio vs. Dinamo
Sparta Praga - Arsenal
FC Zurich - Besiktas or Serif Tiraspol
HotNews.ro, Aug 3, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Funeral ceremony of Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist gathers tens of thousands
After a first ceremony at 7:00 AM, the commemoration session of the Sacred Synod has begun at 9:00, with sister-Orthodox Church Patriarchs, including Bartholomew I of the Constantinople, and Romanian officials holding homage speeches.
Patriarch Teoctist will be buried in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, near his predecessors. In his honor, the Government declared August 3 as national mourning day. Tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in Bucharest downtown, near the cathedral.
The funerals received a wide coverage in the international media. While International Herald Tribune writes about Bartholomew I, The Independent chooses to comment that Teoctist was an enthusiastic supporter of Ceausescu’s regime.
The New York Times reminds that Teoctist was the first Romanian Patriarch to meet Pope John Paul II, in an unprecedented take to the Catholic Church. „The visit by John Paul II was the first by a pope to an Orthodox Christian country, and the pope’s first small step toward achieving his dream of full reconciliation between East and West.
Romania’s population is 87 percent Orthodox Christian”, NY Times reads.
HotNews.ro, Aug 3, 2007
Patriarch Teoctist will be buried in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest, near his predecessors. In his honor, the Government declared August 3 as national mourning day. Tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered in Bucharest downtown, near the cathedral.
The funerals received a wide coverage in the international media. While International Herald Tribune writes about Bartholomew I, The Independent chooses to comment that Teoctist was an enthusiastic supporter of Ceausescu’s regime.
The New York Times reminds that Teoctist was the first Romanian Patriarch to meet Pope John Paul II, in an unprecedented take to the Catholic Church. „The visit by John Paul II was the first by a pope to an Orthodox Christian country, and the pope’s first small step toward achieving his dream of full reconciliation between East and West.
Romania’s population is 87 percent Orthodox Christian”, NY Times reads.
HotNews.ro, Aug 3, 2007
What the newspapers say: August 03, 2007
President Traian Basescu is still the most popular politician in Romania, contributing as well to the high popularity rate of his supporting party, the Democrats (PD).
But there’s more than popularity that counts when it comes to politicians. During the funeral wake for the Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist, officials who didn’t stand in line to present their last homage were booed in an unprecedented state of general despise.
43 of Romanians consider that a Democrat - Liberal Democrat alliance is more legitimate than the one formed by Liberals (PNL), Christian Democrats (PNTCD) and the Popular Action (AP), which is supported by only 13% of the electors, an IMAS poll informed on Thursday.
According to the study, 44% of Romanians do not consider that PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu should have resigned after the referendum maintaining president Basescu in office after the Parliament suspended him.
Democrats lead in the electors’ preferences, with 43% f the votes, followed by Social Democrats (PSD) - 17%, Liberals - 11%, The New Generation Party (PNG) - 10% and far right Great Romania - 5%. Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Christian Democrats are below the 5% threshold, Evenimentul Zilei reads.
According to the poll, published by most newspapers, president Basescu it the man invested with the most confidence - 51% of the electors, followed by New Generation head Gigi Becali (34%) and Liberal Democrat president Theodor Stolojan (28%).
Still, it is not enough to be a public figure to gain the sympathy of people. Several officials who rushed to present their last homage to Patriarch Teoctist’s catafalque were booed by the pilgrims standing in line for hours, hoping to get a glimpse in the Patriarchy, Gandul reads.
Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu, former Romania president Emil Constantinescu, former PM Victor Ciorbea were just a few of the politicians who found out on Thursday how public contempt feels like.
Also in the Patriarchy area: Bucharest mayor Videanu said the project for building a huge National Salvation Cathedral, thus causing a spasm on the real estate market.
The 48 heirs of land owners who lost their properties during the Communist nationalization and might win the location of the future cathedral are already hunted by real estate mercenaries, same Gandul informs.
One of the favorite methods to get rich lately in Romania is to buy litigation rights for lands that will represent a fortune in the near future. Influential businessmen have the „power” to rush Court decisions that would take years for the „normal citizens”.
Still, in the world of business, thins look a bit better than this. The Central Bank announced that 63 banks and 131 insurance companies demanded the permission to operate on the Romanian market. Even though some of them make only a formal act of presence, some are expected to develop series businesses.
The list includes major players on the market: EFG Eurobank Ergasias, Citigroup, UBS or Royal Bank of Scotland, Evenimentul Zilei reads.
HotNews.ro, Aug 3, 2007
But there’s more than popularity that counts when it comes to politicians. During the funeral wake for the Orthodox Patriarch Teoctist, officials who didn’t stand in line to present their last homage were booed in an unprecedented state of general despise.
43 of Romanians consider that a Democrat - Liberal Democrat alliance is more legitimate than the one formed by Liberals (PNL), Christian Democrats (PNTCD) and the Popular Action (AP), which is supported by only 13% of the electors, an IMAS poll informed on Thursday.
According to the study, 44% of Romanians do not consider that PM Calin Popescu Tariceanu should have resigned after the referendum maintaining president Basescu in office after the Parliament suspended him.
Democrats lead in the electors’ preferences, with 43% f the votes, followed by Social Democrats (PSD) - 17%, Liberals - 11%, The New Generation Party (PNG) - 10% and far right Great Romania - 5%. Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and Christian Democrats are below the 5% threshold, Evenimentul Zilei reads.
According to the poll, published by most newspapers, president Basescu it the man invested with the most confidence - 51% of the electors, followed by New Generation head Gigi Becali (34%) and Liberal Democrat president Theodor Stolojan (28%).
Still, it is not enough to be a public figure to gain the sympathy of people. Several officials who rushed to present their last homage to Patriarch Teoctist’s catafalque were booed by the pilgrims standing in line for hours, hoping to get a glimpse in the Patriarchy, Gandul reads.
Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu, former Romania president Emil Constantinescu, former PM Victor Ciorbea were just a few of the politicians who found out on Thursday how public contempt feels like.
Also in the Patriarchy area: Bucharest mayor Videanu said the project for building a huge National Salvation Cathedral, thus causing a spasm on the real estate market.
The 48 heirs of land owners who lost their properties during the Communist nationalization and might win the location of the future cathedral are already hunted by real estate mercenaries, same Gandul informs.
One of the favorite methods to get rich lately in Romania is to buy litigation rights for lands that will represent a fortune in the near future. Influential businessmen have the „power” to rush Court decisions that would take years for the „normal citizens”.
Still, in the world of business, thins look a bit better than this. The Central Bank announced that 63 banks and 131 insurance companies demanded the permission to operate on the Romanian market. Even though some of them make only a formal act of presence, some are expected to develop series businesses.
The list includes major players on the market: EFG Eurobank Ergasias, Citigroup, UBS or Royal Bank of Scotland, Evenimentul Zilei reads.
HotNews.ro, Aug 3, 2007
Romanian roads defined by victims and waste of money
In Romania the chances of getting killed on the national roads network are 40 times as high as in the EU.
This is not caused only by inappropriate drivers’ behavior, but also by faulty road design, maintenance backlog and traffic diverted from unusable local/county roads to national roads, according to a report published Tuesday by a Romanian think-tank, the Romanian Academic Society (SAR).
Motorways are not as high a priority as politicians and public think, anyway, not at these costs, the document says.
A summary of the report:
ROADS TO NOWHERE
SAR’s sectoral report on transport infrastructure policy
• In Romania the chances of getting killed on the national roads network are 40 times as high as in the EU . This is not caused only by inappropriate drivers’ behavior, but also by faulty road design, maintenance backlog and traffic diverted from unusable local/county roads to national roads.
• Motorways are not as high a priority as politicians and public think, anyway, not at these costs. In addition, a significant portion of the traffic on heavily circulated national roads could be shifted to local / county roads with relatively minor repairs / rehabilitation costs, instead of building luxury infrastructure at unbearable costs.
• Costs per motorway km are twice as high as in Poland or Hungary, the most difficult sections reaching almost 30 mn EUR/km; costs with certain types of maintenance are twice as high as in US or Europe. All costs could be reduced by increased competition, independent works supervision, and careful prioritization.
• There’s no way the current motorway/expressway strategies for 2007-2013 flashed to the media can be implemented; these would require an absorption capacity of 3 bn. EUR/year, whereas current capacity is at best 500 mn. and decreasing.
In addition, the maintenance of these roads would burden ever more the already overstrained maintenance budgets which are even today a small fraction of actual needs.
• In the current financial and budgetary flows, CFR and CNADNR are bankrupt and, instead of providing good technical services for the infrastructure network, they are at the whim of frequently changing political management and political fights - at the users’ peril and discomfort.
The current system of not charging adequately the users causes inequity, inefficiency in spending, lack of transparency on how public money is used, accelerated shift from rail transport to roads, as well as lack of predictability on any kind of investment and maintenance plan in the medium term
• The transport sector is in desperate need for a strategic direction; the overarching goal should be ensuring safe transport at speeds that do not create bottlenecks for economic development.
Instead, the Ministry of Transport, as well as CFR and CNADNR currently focus at best on “absorbing free EU money” and rely exclusively on International Financial Institutions and European Commission to formulate programs and projects.
There is no coordination of strategies in the transport sector with budgets and other sectors, and no adequate planning of the steps in implementation (land acquisition, environment permits, utilities management).
Such coordination should be done using the results of the worryingly neglected General Transport Master Plan consultancy contracted by the Ministry of Transport. For the railway sector, the coordination of infrastructure strategies with state operators’ corporate plans should be done by a Steering Committee created two years ago.
Its non-functioning blocks projects, and perpetuates a vicious cycle of non-transparent, unsustainable debt compensations between CFR, CFR Freight, CFR Passengers, Ministry of Transport which fosters at best spending inefficiency
• Qualified staff is leaving the sector at a rate that cannot be compensated by hiring beginners - not to mention that even inexperienced fresh graduates find better paid jobs in the private sector.
The staffing issue is serious enough to be the main cause of a two-year delay on most investment and rehabilitation projects, both in roads and in railways
• The transport sector is intolerably opaque not only compared to international best practices, but even to the requirements of the Romanian legislation.
It is unacceptable that strategies are not publicly debated before presented as final, that MT, CNADNR and CFR do not disclose periodic standardized reports on how their programs are implemented, to what results, and how much money they spend on what projects.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
This is not caused only by inappropriate drivers’ behavior, but also by faulty road design, maintenance backlog and traffic diverted from unusable local/county roads to national roads, according to a report published Tuesday by a Romanian think-tank, the Romanian Academic Society (SAR).
Motorways are not as high a priority as politicians and public think, anyway, not at these costs, the document says.
A summary of the report:
ROADS TO NOWHERE
SAR’s sectoral report on transport infrastructure policy
• In Romania the chances of getting killed on the national roads network are 40 times as high as in the EU . This is not caused only by inappropriate drivers’ behavior, but also by faulty road design, maintenance backlog and traffic diverted from unusable local/county roads to national roads.
• Motorways are not as high a priority as politicians and public think, anyway, not at these costs. In addition, a significant portion of the traffic on heavily circulated national roads could be shifted to local / county roads with relatively minor repairs / rehabilitation costs, instead of building luxury infrastructure at unbearable costs.
• Costs per motorway km are twice as high as in Poland or Hungary, the most difficult sections reaching almost 30 mn EUR/km; costs with certain types of maintenance are twice as high as in US or Europe. All costs could be reduced by increased competition, independent works supervision, and careful prioritization.
• There’s no way the current motorway/expressway strategies for 2007-2013 flashed to the media can be implemented; these would require an absorption capacity of 3 bn. EUR/year, whereas current capacity is at best 500 mn. and decreasing.
In addition, the maintenance of these roads would burden ever more the already overstrained maintenance budgets which are even today a small fraction of actual needs.
• In the current financial and budgetary flows, CFR and CNADNR are bankrupt and, instead of providing good technical services for the infrastructure network, they are at the whim of frequently changing political management and political fights - at the users’ peril and discomfort.
The current system of not charging adequately the users causes inequity, inefficiency in spending, lack of transparency on how public money is used, accelerated shift from rail transport to roads, as well as lack of predictability on any kind of investment and maintenance plan in the medium term
• The transport sector is in desperate need for a strategic direction; the overarching goal should be ensuring safe transport at speeds that do not create bottlenecks for economic development.
Instead, the Ministry of Transport, as well as CFR and CNADNR currently focus at best on “absorbing free EU money” and rely exclusively on International Financial Institutions and European Commission to formulate programs and projects.
There is no coordination of strategies in the transport sector with budgets and other sectors, and no adequate planning of the steps in implementation (land acquisition, environment permits, utilities management).
Such coordination should be done using the results of the worryingly neglected General Transport Master Plan consultancy contracted by the Ministry of Transport. For the railway sector, the coordination of infrastructure strategies with state operators’ corporate plans should be done by a Steering Committee created two years ago.
Its non-functioning blocks projects, and perpetuates a vicious cycle of non-transparent, unsustainable debt compensations between CFR, CFR Freight, CFR Passengers, Ministry of Transport which fosters at best spending inefficiency
• Qualified staff is leaving the sector at a rate that cannot be compensated by hiring beginners - not to mention that even inexperienced fresh graduates find better paid jobs in the private sector.
The staffing issue is serious enough to be the main cause of a two-year delay on most investment and rehabilitation projects, both in roads and in railways
• The transport sector is intolerably opaque not only compared to international best practices, but even to the requirements of the Romanian legislation.
It is unacceptable that strategies are not publicly debated before presented as final, that MT, CNADNR and CFR do not disclose periodic standardized reports on how their programs are implemented, to what results, and how much money they spend on what projects.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
President Basescu: the garbage disposal facility in Glina threatens to become a symbol of Bucharest
Unless measures are taken to deal with the garbage dumping in Glina, a near-by village next to Bucharest, it will become a symbol of the capital city, President Basescu declared on Friday.
The president intervened after PM Tariceanu failed to convince local authorities to clean the side of the road. Local mayor invoked the lack of funds and no other news was heard thereafter.
Basescu explained that the terrain does not pertain to Bucharest nor to Popesti Leordeni a nearby city but to the States Assets Agency.
Moreover, he added that this is mainly an institutional issue, emblematic for Romanian administration as the Agency lacks both the budget and the means to deal with the garbage.
Located on the road to the seaside, an important auto route towards the SE of Romania, Basescu says it is inadmissible for a European capital city.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
The president intervened after PM Tariceanu failed to convince local authorities to clean the side of the road. Local mayor invoked the lack of funds and no other news was heard thereafter.
Basescu explained that the terrain does not pertain to Bucharest nor to Popesti Leordeni a nearby city but to the States Assets Agency.
Moreover, he added that this is mainly an institutional issue, emblematic for Romanian administration as the Agency lacks both the budget and the means to deal with the garbage.
Located on the road to the seaside, an important auto route towards the SE of Romania, Basescu says it is inadmissible for a European capital city.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
UEFA announces participating teams for the CL draw
Romanian teams Dinamo and Steaua will find out Friday afternoon who they'll play against in the last preliminary tour of the Champions League. Steaua enters the top seeds but among its opponents are strong teams such as Fenerbahce, Spartak Moscow and AEK Athens.
Top Seeds
FC Liverpool (England)
Arsenal London (England)
Valencia CF (Spain)
FC Sevilla (Spain)
Benfica Lisbon (Portugal)
Ajax Amsterdam (Holland)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Celtic Glasgow (Scotland)
Zaglebie Lubin (Polonia)/Steaua Bucharest
Lazio Rome (Italy)
Glasgow Rangers (Scotland)/Zeta (Montenegro)
Pyunik Erevan (Armenia)/Sahtior Donetk (Ukraine)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)/Besiktas (Turkey)
Anderlecht Bruxelles (Belgium)
Dinamo Kiev (Ukraine)
Tampere (Finland)/Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)
Non seeded teams
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)
AEK Athens (Greece)
Dinamo Bucharest
Zilina (Slovakia)/Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Astana (Kazakhstan)/Rosenborg (Norway)
Spartak Moscow (Russia)
Crvena Zvezda Belgrade (Serbia)/Levadia (Estonia)
Copenhaga (Denmark)/Beitar (Israel)
FC Toulouse (France)
Domzale (Slovenia)/Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Genk (Belgium)/Sarajevo (Bosnia-Hercegovina)
Debrecen (Hungary)/Elfsborg (Sweden)
FC Zurich (Switzerland)
Ventspils (Latvia)/Salzburg (Austria)
Hafnarfjordur (Iceland)/Bate Borisov (Belarus)
The draw will take place at Nyon (Switzerland) on Friday, 13:00h. Teams of the same countries cannot play against one another.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Top Seeds
FC Liverpool (England)
Arsenal London (England)
Valencia CF (Spain)
FC Sevilla (Spain)
Benfica Lisbon (Portugal)
Ajax Amsterdam (Holland)
Werder Bremen (Germany)
Celtic Glasgow (Scotland)
Zaglebie Lubin (Polonia)/Steaua Bucharest
Lazio Rome (Italy)
Glasgow Rangers (Scotland)/Zeta (Montenegro)
Pyunik Erevan (Armenia)/Sahtior Donetk (Ukraine)
Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova)/Besiktas (Turkey)
Anderlecht Bruxelles (Belgium)
Dinamo Kiev (Ukraine)
Tampere (Finland)/Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)
Non seeded teams
Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)
Fenerbahce (Turkey)
AEK Athens (Greece)
Dinamo Bucharest
Zilina (Slovakia)/Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Astana (Kazakhstan)/Rosenborg (Norway)
Spartak Moscow (Russia)
Crvena Zvezda Belgrade (Serbia)/Levadia (Estonia)
Copenhaga (Denmark)/Beitar (Israel)
FC Toulouse (France)
Domzale (Slovenia)/Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
Genk (Belgium)/Sarajevo (Bosnia-Hercegovina)
Debrecen (Hungary)/Elfsborg (Sweden)
FC Zurich (Switzerland)
Ventspils (Latvia)/Salzburg (Austria)
Hafnarfjordur (Iceland)/Bate Borisov (Belarus)
The draw will take place at Nyon (Switzerland) on Friday, 13:00h. Teams of the same countries cannot play against one another.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Death of Romanian Patriarch revives People's Salvation Cathedral project
Romanian officials have raised the possibility of reviving a years-old project to build a huge People's Salvation Cathedral at the heart of Bucharest - a project initiated by late Romanian Patriarch Teoctist, who died on Monday.
Bucharest mayor Adriean Videanu said on Wednesday that he hoped the project would be relaunched by the eind of his term in office.
Senate’s speaker, Nicolae Vacaroiu declared on Tuesday that the biggest wish of the Patriarch was to see the Cathedral built.
The terrain where the Cathedral was set to be built is located right behind the Parliament Palace - one of the biggest buildings in the world, formerly known as ex-dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's House of the People. The land for the Cathedral measures almost 11 acres.
Late last year, the land was given to the Romanian Church even if more than a third of is subject to controversy as the rightful owners were dispossessed of their plots during the Communist era.
The Bucharest City Hall has already approved the plan regulating the construction of the Cathedral. The building is designed to be higher than that of the Parliament, which will make it visible from any location in Bucharest.
The cleric’s plans raised controversies along the years, mainly focused upon the chosen location.
Initially, the proposed location was the Unirea Square and later the Carol Park. However, President Basescu, at the time mayor of Bucharest, refused to accept the locations, which led to the abandonment of the project.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Bucharest mayor Adriean Videanu said on Wednesday that he hoped the project would be relaunched by the eind of his term in office.
Senate’s speaker, Nicolae Vacaroiu declared on Tuesday that the biggest wish of the Patriarch was to see the Cathedral built.
The terrain where the Cathedral was set to be built is located right behind the Parliament Palace - one of the biggest buildings in the world, formerly known as ex-dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's House of the People. The land for the Cathedral measures almost 11 acres.
Late last year, the land was given to the Romanian Church even if more than a third of is subject to controversy as the rightful owners were dispossessed of their plots during the Communist era.
The Bucharest City Hall has already approved the plan regulating the construction of the Cathedral. The building is designed to be higher than that of the Parliament, which will make it visible from any location in Bucharest.
The cleric’s plans raised controversies along the years, mainly focused upon the chosen location.
Initially, the proposed location was the Unirea Square and later the Carol Park. However, President Basescu, at the time mayor of Bucharest, refused to accept the locations, which led to the abandonment of the project.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Romania expects heavy rains and lower temperatures in coming weekend
After weeks of extreme heat, Romania is cooling down. The weather is unstable in most of the regions and many areas face rains and low temperatures, according to TV news reports. Rains and lower temperatures are expected for the coming weekend.
In the next couple of days, the weather will be unstable mostly in the South, Central and East Romania. According to Antena 3 TV news station, the regions will face heavy rains and wind rafalls.
Maximum temperatures in the South and South East will range between 19 and 29 degrees Celsius and the minimums will reach 8 to 18 degrees Celsius.
In the weekend, the weather remains unstable and meterologists forecast rain. Temperatures will not exceed 27 degrees Celsius. On Friday, however, the maximum temperature will reach 33 degrees Celsius.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
In the next couple of days, the weather will be unstable mostly in the South, Central and East Romania. According to Antena 3 TV news station, the regions will face heavy rains and wind rafalls.
Maximum temperatures in the South and South East will range between 19 and 29 degrees Celsius and the minimums will reach 8 to 18 degrees Celsius.
In the weekend, the weather remains unstable and meterologists forecast rain. Temperatures will not exceed 27 degrees Celsius. On Friday, however, the maximum temperature will reach 33 degrees Celsius.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Romanian public television might stop broadcasting in Republic of Moldova
Citizens in the Republic of Moldova could stop receiving broadcasts of Romanian national public television TVR1 starting with fall 2007, a press release informs on Thursday.
The collaboration protocol between TVR1 and the authorities in Chisinau expired on June 13 and the retransmission tax has not been paid.
According to the press release, TVR1 is negotiating a new protocol. BBC informs that TVR risks of losing the broadcast frequency in the Republic of Moldova.
The frequencies are open to the market at the request of the Ministry in charge.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
The collaboration protocol between TVR1 and the authorities in Chisinau expired on June 13 and the retransmission tax has not been paid.
According to the press release, TVR1 is negotiating a new protocol. BBC informs that TVR risks of losing the broadcast frequency in the Republic of Moldova.
The frequencies are open to the market at the request of the Ministry in charge.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Le Monde: Patriarch's succession divides Romanian Orthodox Church
The international press on Thursday writes about the loss of the Romanian Orthodox Church as its Patriarch Teoctist died on Monday after 21 years of spiritual leadership. But loss is not all that comes with it - a power struggle within the church and on the political stage is expected to explode.
Le Monde underlines in its electronic edition that the death of the Patriarch leaves behind a Christian community on the verge of division between reformists and traditionalists.
The article mentions that according to tradition the Patriarchal seat should be taken by IPS Daniel, the head of the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, but there is a big change that he would not be sustained by the conservative voices.
On the other hand, the head of the church for the Cluj region in Central Romania, IPS Bartolomeu, has just as much chances to win the Holy Chair. The leader of the conservative wing is suspected of supporting the fascist ideology of the "Legion" movement of the WWII era when he was young.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Le Monde underlines in its electronic edition that the death of the Patriarch leaves behind a Christian community on the verge of division between reformists and traditionalists.
The article mentions that according to tradition the Patriarchal seat should be taken by IPS Daniel, the head of the Metropolitan Church of Moldova, but there is a big change that he would not be sustained by the conservative voices.
On the other hand, the head of the church for the Cluj region in Central Romania, IPS Bartolomeu, has just as much chances to win the Holy Chair. The leader of the conservative wing is suspected of supporting the fascist ideology of the "Legion" movement of the WWII era when he was young.
HotNews.ro, Aug 2, 2007
Gold exploitation regains town planning certificate
The Soros Foundation in Romania accuses the Alba County Council of issuing a new town planning green light for the controversial gold exploitation in Rosia Montana, only days after a court has annulled the previous urban certificate.
The certificate is required so that the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation would be enabled to continue its procedures for putting up an environmental impact evaluation study.
"It is a prove of contempt and despise towards the Justice and the Justice system's authority in Romania", a Soros press release reads.
According to the same source, the environmental impact report is a document which - beside being challenged itself - relies on two documents also attacked in court.
According to the Foundation, the "trick" will not or should not make any changes, since an urban certificate can't be obtained twice using the same project and the same conditions that caused the suspension of the previous certificate.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
The certificate is required so that the Rosia Montana Gold Corporation would be enabled to continue its procedures for putting up an environmental impact evaluation study.
"It is a prove of contempt and despise towards the Justice and the Justice system's authority in Romania", a Soros press release reads.
According to the same source, the environmental impact report is a document which - beside being challenged itself - relies on two documents also attacked in court.
According to the Foundation, the "trick" will not or should not make any changes, since an urban certificate can't be obtained twice using the same project and the same conditions that caused the suspension of the previous certificate.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
Schools in Italy, Spain to teach Romanian language, culture and history
The Government approved on Wednesday the Education Ministry projects on teaching classes of Romanian language, culture and civilization in Spanish and Italian schools, mainly in regions where the Romanian communities are well represented.
The pilot projects will consist in introducing the educational offering for extra-curriculum classes, two hours per week, in all forms of education up to high-school.
The classes will teach basic notions of Romanian language, history and geography.
Education minister Cristian Adomnitei mentioned that the required personnel will be drafted from the very communities where the classes take place, if possible. However, Pedagogy high-school graduates will be elected for the primary school, while a specialized faculty is a must for teaching in the secondary schools.
The protocol for the initiative was already signed with the Spanish counterpart and it is expected for the Italians to join before the end of the month.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
The pilot projects will consist in introducing the educational offering for extra-curriculum classes, two hours per week, in all forms of education up to high-school.
The classes will teach basic notions of Romanian language, history and geography.
Education minister Cristian Adomnitei mentioned that the required personnel will be drafted from the very communities where the classes take place, if possible. However, Pedagogy high-school graduates will be elected for the primary school, while a specialized faculty is a must for teaching in the secondary schools.
The protocol for the initiative was already signed with the Spanish counterpart and it is expected for the Italians to join before the end of the month.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
How much for an MP?
The Institute for Public Policies conducted an analysis on the monthly expenses a parliamentarian demands in his national activity. According to the study, a parliamentarian who participates in all the sessions and also activates as vice president in a Commissions causes budgetary expenses of some 24,000 RON (over 6,500 euros).
The most important of the expenses is represented by the hotel rooms rented for MPs (over 25%). One of the conclusions in the report is that the costs justify the re-opening of discussions on whether a special hotel for MPs should be built or not.
Sums cashed by parliamentarians cover a monthly amount for various actions, daily payments for trips in the territory or for visits abroad, gas / ticket money for days spend in official temporary displacements, a forfeiter amount as support for office expenses, money for the mobile telephony and Internet subscriptions.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
The most important of the expenses is represented by the hotel rooms rented for MPs (over 25%). One of the conclusions in the report is that the costs justify the re-opening of discussions on whether a special hotel for MPs should be built or not.
Sums cashed by parliamentarians cover a monthly amount for various actions, daily payments for trips in the territory or for visits abroad, gas / ticket money for days spend in official temporary displacements, a forfeiter amount as support for office expenses, money for the mobile telephony and Internet subscriptions.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
Drought leaves Ankara and parts of Greece without water
Turkish authorities will rationalize the water consumption in the region of Ankara, after the high temperatures and the drought caused the severe diminishing of the available water resources. Starting on Wednesday, water provisioning will cease four days a week in each of the two sectors of the city, AFP informs.
A month ago, the car washing and the green space sprinkling were forbidden in the 3.9 million people capital.
In Greece, the authorities instated on Tuesday the emergency state in the Cyclades islands, well known as holyday destinations.
According to Reuters, the Interior Minister took the decision in order to force authorities to improve their water provisioning measures.
The Kimolos island governor, Theodoros Maganiotis, warned that the water supplies are exhausted and there are no good prospects for the following days.
Water shipments towards the Cyclades islands were also delayed, thus participating in the aggravation.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
A month ago, the car washing and the green space sprinkling were forbidden in the 3.9 million people capital.
In Greece, the authorities instated on Tuesday the emergency state in the Cyclades islands, well known as holyday destinations.
According to Reuters, the Interior Minister took the decision in order to force authorities to improve their water provisioning measures.
The Kimolos island governor, Theodoros Maganiotis, warned that the water supplies are exhausted and there are no good prospects for the following days.
Water shipments towards the Cyclades islands were also delayed, thus participating in the aggravation.
HotNews.ro, Aug 1, 2007
Boy, 5, doused in gas, set on fire by masked men
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Five-year-old Youssif is scarred for life, his once beautiful smile turned into a grotesquely disfigured face -- the face of a horrifying act by masked men. They grabbed him on a January day outside his central Baghdad home, doused him with gas and set him ablaze.
It's an act incomprehensibly savage, even by Iraq's standards today. No one has been arrested and the motive remains unknown.
In a war-ravaged city torn by sectarian violence and marked by acts of vengeance, this attack's apparent randomness stands out as an example of what life has become in a place where brutality -- even against young children -- is a constant.
"They dumped gasoline, burned me, and ran," Youssif told CNN, pointing down the street with his scarred hands where his attackers fled.
It looks as though this boy's face melted and then froze into rivers cutting through swollen hard flesh. It's hard to see the energetic outgoing child his parents describe beneath the sullen demeanor that defines Youssif today.
"He's become spiteful, I am not sure why," said his mother, Zainab. "He is jealous of everyone. If I say the slightest thing to him, he cries. He's sensitive." Video Watch the mother describe how she cries at night wracked with guilt »
Even things like eating have become a chore. His face contorts when he tries to shovel rice into his mouth, carefully angling the spoon and then using his fingers to push the little grains through lips he can no longer fully open.
He has also become jealous of the baby sister he used to dote on. "I sit sometimes at night and cry," Zainab said, her voice heavy with guilt. "If only I hadn't let him go outside, if only I hadn't let him play."
It was on January 15 that masked men attacked her boy, their identities still unknown. Zainab said she was upstairs at the time.
"I heard screaming. I thought someone was fighting or something," she said.
She ran downstairs, saw her son and fainted. When she came to, she barely recognized her child. "His head was so swollen, you couldn't see his eyes, and his nose was pushed in."
"There was blood," she added, shuddering slightly. "The skin was melted off."
He spent two months in the hospital recovering from the severe burns. These days Youssif spends most of his time indoors, in front of the computer. It's only then that traces of the 5-year-old in him emerge. "He can't play outside with the other kids," Zainab said. "The other day they were playing, and he came in crying. I asked him, 'What's wrong?' and he said, 'They won't play with me because I am burned.'"
She said he once wanted to be a doctor and he loved kindergarten. "He used to be the one who would wake me up every morning, saying let's go to school," Zainab recalled.
She coaxed him to tell me the few words he knows in English. "Girl, boy, window, fan," he said, his voice barely audible, the words barely intelligible.
Doctors told the family there is little more they can do to help Youssif. The family can't afford care outside Iraq.
So Zainab has taken a massive risk by telling her story to the world. Her husband works as a security guard, and it's too dangerous for him to talk to the media.
"I'd prefer death than seeing my son like this," Zainab said.
All she wants is for someone to help her little boy smile again.
Source: www.cnn.com
Youssif was known for his bright smile before he was attacked by masked men.
In a war-ravaged city torn by sectarian violence and marked by acts of vengeance, this attack's apparent randomness stands out as an example of what life has become in a place where brutality -- even against young children -- is a constant.
"They dumped gasoline, burned me, and ran," Youssif told CNN, pointing down the street with his scarred hands where his attackers fled.
It looks as though this boy's face melted and then froze into rivers cutting through swollen hard flesh. It's hard to see the energetic outgoing child his parents describe beneath the sullen demeanor that defines Youssif today.
"He's become spiteful, I am not sure why," said his mother, Zainab. "He is jealous of everyone. If I say the slightest thing to him, he cries. He's sensitive." Video Watch the mother describe how she cries at night wracked with guilt »
Even things like eating have become a chore. His face contorts when he tries to shovel rice into his mouth, carefully angling the spoon and then using his fingers to push the little grains through lips he can no longer fully open.
He has also become jealous of the baby sister he used to dote on. "I sit sometimes at night and cry," Zainab said, her voice heavy with guilt. "If only I hadn't let him go outside, if only I hadn't let him play."
It was on January 15 that masked men attacked her boy, their identities still unknown. Zainab said she was upstairs at the time.
"I heard screaming. I thought someone was fighting or something," she said.
She ran downstairs, saw her son and fainted. When she came to, she barely recognized her child. "His head was so swollen, you couldn't see his eyes, and his nose was pushed in."
"There was blood," she added, shuddering slightly. "The skin was melted off."
He spent two months in the hospital recovering from the severe burns. These days Youssif spends most of his time indoors, in front of the computer. It's only then that traces of the 5-year-old in him emerge. "He can't play outside with the other kids," Zainab said. "The other day they were playing, and he came in crying. I asked him, 'What's wrong?' and he said, 'They won't play with me because I am burned.'"
She said he once wanted to be a doctor and he loved kindergarten. "He used to be the one who would wake me up every morning, saying let's go to school," Zainab recalled.
She coaxed him to tell me the few words he knows in English. "Girl, boy, window, fan," he said, his voice barely audible, the words barely intelligible.
Doctors told the family there is little more they can do to help Youssif. The family can't afford care outside Iraq.
So Zainab has taken a massive risk by telling her story to the world. Her husband works as a security guard, and it's too dangerous for him to talk to the media.
"I'd prefer death than seeing my son like this," Zainab said.
All she wants is for someone to help her little boy smile again.
Source: www.cnn.com
Images That Changed The World?!
Some people might be offended or upset by these images but this isn't my intentions I just want it to be thought provoking and enlightening, and for people to talk about the past and to never forget, because we need to learn from past events other wise we will keep repeating history.
If the image has a link it will take you to a video/documentary about the history of the image and the title of the image will take you to Wikipedia.
Execution of a Viet Cong Guerrilla [1968]
This picture was shot by Eddie Adams who won the Pulitzer prize with it. The picture shows Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam's national police chief executing a prisoner who was said to be a Viet Cong captain. Once again the public opinion was turned against the war.
By Eddie Adams
This is a famous picture, taken in 1930, showing the young black men accused of raping a Caucasian woman and killing her boyfriend, hanged by a mob of 10,000 white men. The mob took them by force from the county jail house. Another black man was left behind and ended up being saved from lynching. Even if lynching photos were designed to boost white supremacy, the tortured bodies and grotesquely happy crowds ended up revolting many.
By Lawrence Beitler
It was a picture that got the world's attention: A frozen moment in time that showed 13-year-old Hector Peterson dying after being struck down by a policeman's bullet.
By Sam Nzima
It was the fourth school year since segregation had been outlawed by the Supreme Court. Things were not going well, and some southerners accused the national press of distorting matters. This picture, however, gave irrefutable testimony, as Elizabeth Eckford strides through a gantlet of white students, including Hazel Bryant (mouth open the widest), on her way to Little Rock's Central High.
By Will Counts
Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire [1911]
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company always kept its doors locked to ensure that the young immigrant women stayed stooped over their machines and didn't steal anything. When a fire broke out on Saturday, March 25, 1911, on the eighth floor of the New York City factory, the locks sealed the workers' fate. In just 30 minutes, 146 were killed. Witnesses thought the owners were tossing their best fabric out the windows to save it, then realized workers were jumping, sometimes after sharing a kiss (the scene can be viewed now as an eerie precursor to the World Trade Center events of September, 11, 2001, only a mile and a half south). The Triangle disaster spurred a national crusade for workplace safety.
Phan Thị Kim Phúc [1972]
Phan Thị Kim Phúc known as Kim Phuc (born 1963) was the subject of a famous photo from the Vietnam war. The picture shows her at about age nine running naked after being severely burned on her back by a napalm attack.
By Huỳnh Công Út
Kent State [1970]
The news that Richard Nixon was sending troops to Cambodia caused a chain of protests in the U.S. colleges. At Kent State the protest seemed more violent, some students even throwing rocks. In consequence, The Ohio National Guard was called to calm things down, but the events got out of hand and they started shooting. Some of the victims were simply walking to school. The photo shows 14-year-old Mary Ann Vecchio kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller who had been shot by the Ohio National Guard moments earlier.
By John Paul Filo
This is the picture of a student/man going to work who has just had enough. The days leading up to this event thousands of protesters and innocent by standers were killed by their own government because the Chinese people wanted more rights. He tries to stop the tanks in Tiananmen Square by standing in front of them and climbed on the tank and hitting the hatch and yelling, the tank driver didn't crush the man with the bags as a group of unknown people came and dragged him away, we still don't know if the man is alive or dead as the Chinese government executed many of the protesters involved. China is still controlled by a communist regime, but while there are strong willed men like this the country still has hope.
There are two well know photos taken of the protester by two different photojournalist, so I thought I would show both images and give both photographer credit for there work as many people think that both images where taken by the same person.
By Stuart Franklin
By Jeff Widener
Thích Quảng Đức [1963]
Thích Quảng Ðức was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon intersection on June 11, 1963. His act of self-immolation, which was repeated by others, was witnessed by David Halberstam, a New York Times reporter, who wrote:
- " I was to see that sight again, but once was enough. Flames were coming from a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring. In the air was the smell of burning human flesh; human beings burn surprisingly quickly. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think.... As he burned he never moved a muscle, never uttered a sound, his outward composure in sharp contrast to the wailing people around him."
By Malcolm Browne
Portrait of Winston Churchill [1941]
This photograph was taken by Yousuf Karsh, a Canadian photographer, when Winston Churchill came to Ottawa. The portrait of Churchill brought Karsh international fame. It is claimed to be the most reproduced photographic portrait in history. It also appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
By Yousuf Karsh
Albert Einstein [1951]
Albert Einstein is probably one of the most popular figures of all times. He is considered a genius because he created the Theory of Relativity, and so, challenged Newton's laws, that were the basis of everything known in physics until the beginning of the 20th century. But, as a person, he was considered a beatnik, and this picture, taken on March 14, 1951 proves that.
By Arthur Sasse
Nagasaki [1945]
This is the picture of the "mushroom cloud" showing the enormous quantity of energy. The first atomic bomb was released on August 6 in Hiroshima (Japan) and killed about 80,000 people. On August 9 another bomb was released above Nagasaki. The effects of the second bomb were even more devastating - 150,000 people were killed or injured. But the powerful wind, the extremely high temperature and radiation caused enormous long term damage.
Hiroshima, Three Weeks After the Bomb [1945]
Americans -- and everyone -- had heard of the bomb that "leveled" Hiroshima, but what did that mean? When the aerial photography was published, that question was answered.
And here is a ground view of the destruction.
Dead on the Beach [1943]
Haunting photograph of a beach in Papua New Guinea on September 20, 1943, the magazine felt compelled to ask in an adjacent full-page editorial, "Why print this picture, anyway, of three American boys dead upon an alien shore?" Among the reasons: "words are never enough . . .
By George Strock
Buchenwald [1945]
George Patton's troops when they liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp. Forty-three thousand people had been murdered there. Patton was so outraged he ordered his men to march German civilians through the camp so they could see with their own eyes what their nation had wrought.
Anne Frank [1941]
Six million Jews died in the Holocaust. For many throughout the world, one teenage girl gave them a story and a face. She was Anne Frank, the adolescent who, according to her diary, retained her hope and humanity as she hid with her family in an Amsterdam attic. In 1944 the Nazis, acting on a tip, arrested the Franks; Anne and her sister died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen only a month before the camp was liberated. The world came to know her through her words and through this ordinary portrait of a girl of 14. She stares with big eyes, wearing an enigmatic expression, gazing at a future that the viewer knows will never come.
V-J Day, Times Square, [1945]
or "The Kiss", at the end of World War II, in US cities everybody went to the streets to salute the end of combat. Friendship and unity were everywhere. This picture shows a sailor kissing a young nurse in Times Square. The fact is he was kissing every girl he encountered and for that kiss, this particular nurse slapped him.
By Alfred Eisenstaedt
Image of a young US sergeant at the moment he learns that the body bag next to him contains the body of his friend, killed by "friendly fire".
The widely published photo became an iconic image of the 1991 Gulf war - a war in which media access was limited by Pentagon restrictions.
By David Turnley
The Falling Man [2001]
The powerful and controversial photograph provoked feelings of anger, particularly in the United States, in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The photo ran only once in many American newspapers because they received critical and angry letters from readers who felt the photo was exploitative, voyeuristic, and disrespectful of the dead. This led to the media's self-censorship of the photograph, preferring instead to print photos of acts of heroism and sacrifice.
Drew commented about the varying reactions, saying, "This is how it affected people's lives at that time, and I think that is why it's an important picture. I didn't capture this person's death. I captured part of his life. This is what he decided to do, and I think I preserved that."9/11: The Falling Man ends suggesting that this picture was not a matter of the identity behind the man, but how he symbolized the events of 9/11.
By Richard Drew
U.S. Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima [1945]
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic photograph taken on February 23, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II.
The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all times.
By Joe Rosenthal
Lunch atop a Skyscraper [1932]
Lunch atop a Skyscraper (New York Construction Workers Lunching on a Crossbeam) is a famous photograph taken by Charles C. Ebbets during construction of the GE Building at Rockefeller Center in 1932.
The photograph depicts 11 men eating lunch, seated on a girder with their feet dangling hundreds of feet above the New York City streets. Ebbets took the photo on September 29, 1932, and it appeared in the New York Herald Tribune in its Sunday photo supplement on October 2. Taken on the 69th floor of the GE Building during the last several months of construction, the photo Resting on a Girder shows the same workers napping on the beam.
Here's a rare image by the same photographer showing the workers sleeping on the crossbeam.
Migrant Mother [1936]
For many, this picture of Florence Owens Thompson (age 32) represents the Great Depression. She was the mother of 7 and she struggled to survive with her kids catching birds and picking fruits. Dorothea Lange took the picture after Florence sold her tent to buy food for her children. She made the first page of major newspapers all over the country and changed people's conception about migrants.
By Dorothea Lange
Omayra Sánchez [1985]
Red Cross rescue workers had apparently repeatedly appealed to the government for a pump to lower the water level and for other help to free the girl. Finally rescuers gave up and spent their remaining time with her, comforting her and praying with her. She died of exposure after about 60 hours.
By Frank Fournier
A vulture watches a starving child [1993]
The prize-winning image: A vulture watches a starving child in southern Sudan, March 1, 1993.
Carter's winning photo shows a heart-breaking scene of a starving child collapsed on the ground, struggling to get to a food center during a famine in the Sudan in 1993. In the background, a vulture stalks the emaciated child.
Carter was part of a group of four fearless photojournalists known as the "Bang Bang Club" who traveled throughout South Africa capturing the atrocities committed during apartheid.
Haunted by the horrific images from Sudan, Carter committed suicide in 1994 soon after receiving the award.
By Kevin Carter
Biafra [1969]
When the Igbos of eastern Nigeria declared themselves independent in 1967, Nigeria blockaded their fledgling country-Biafra. In three years of war, more than one million people died, mainly of hunger. In famine, children who lack protein often get the disease kwashiorkor, which causes their muscles to waste away and their bellies to protrude. War photographer Don McCullin drew attention to the tragedy. "I was devastated by the sight of 900 children living in one camp in utter squalor at the point of death," he said. "I lost all interest in photographing soldiers in action." The world community intervened to help Biafra, and learned key lessons about dealing with massive hunger exacerbated by war-a problem that still defies simple solutions.
By Don McCullin
Misery in Darfur [2004]
It's an image which depicts a depressed, shoulders-down figure of a child in a cluster of what remains of her family.
The very weather-beaten arm of her mother goes over her left shoulder and there are the very small weather-beaten hands of the child, who is about five or six, clinging on to this one piece of security that she has, which is the weather-beaten hand of her mother.
The mother is not in the image, she's in the background. But then slightly further in the background you see the other hands of her brothers and sisters as they wait in this village.
By Marcus Bleasdale
Tragedy in Oklahoma [1995]
The fireman has taken the time to remove his gloves before receiving this infant from the policeman.
Anyone who knows anything about firefighters know that their gloves are very rough and abrasive and to remove these is like saying I want to make sure that I am as gentle and as compassionate as I can be with this infant that I don't know is dead or alive.
The fireman is just cradling this infant with the utmost compassion and caring.
He is looking down at her with this longing, almost to say with his eyes: "It's going to be OK, if there's anything I can do I want to try to help you."
He doesn't know that she has already passed away.
By Chris Porter
How Life Begins [1965]
In 1957 he began taking pictures with an endoscope, an instrument that can see inside a body cavity, but when Lennart Nilsson presented the rewards of his work to LIFE's editors several years later, they demanded that witnesses confirm that they were seeing what they thought they were seeing. Finally convinced, they published a cover story in 1965 that went on for 16 pages, and it created a sensation. Then, and over the intervening years, Nilsson's painstakingly made pictures informed how humanity feels about . . . well, humanity. They also were appropriated for purposes that Nilsson never intended. Nearly as soon as the 1965 portfolio appeared in LIFE, images from it were enlarged by right-to-life activists and pasted to placards.
By Lennart Nilsson
First Flight [1903]
December 17, 1903 was the day humanity spread its wings and rose above the ground - for 12 seconds at first and by the end of the day for almost a minute - but it was a major breakthrough. Orville and Wilbur Wright, two bicycle mechanics from Ohio, are the pioneers of aviations, and although this first flight occurred so late in history, the ulterior development was exponential.
By John T. Daniels
Earthrise [1968]
The late adventure photographer Galen Rowell called it "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken." Captured on Christmas Eve, 1968, near the end of one of the most tumultuous years the U.S. had ever known, the Earthrise photograph inspired contemplation of our fragile existence and our place in the cosmos. For years, Frank Borman and Bill Anders of the Apollo 8 mission each thought that he was the one who took the picture. An investigation of two rolls of film seemed to prove Borman had taken an earlier, black-and-white frame, and the iconic color photograph, which later graced a U.S. postage stamp and several book covers, was by Anders.
By William Anders
Paris Hilton loses inheritance
PARTY princess Paris Hilton is $60 million out of pocket after her billionaire grandfather - appalled by her jail term for drink-driving offences - axed her inheritance.
Family patriarch Barron Hilton was already embarrassed by his granddaughter's wild behaviour - notably when her home sex video was leaked on the internet.
But the 79-year-old considered her 23-day sentence last month the last straw.
"He was, and is, extremely embarrassed by how the Hilton name has been sullied by Paris," says Jerry Oppenheimer, who wrote a biography of the clan called House Of Hilton.
"He now doesn't want to leave unearned wealth to his family."
Hilton senior, the only member of the family left with a sizeable stake in the huge hotel chain, has let it be known that he intends to donate to charity the $2.4bn he will gain from this month's sale of the company to private equity firm Blackstone.
The money will go to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the charity set up in the name of the founder of the family business.
Source: news.com.au
Family patriarch Barron Hilton was already embarrassed by his granddaughter's wild behaviour - notably when her home sex video was leaked on the internet.
But the 79-year-old considered her 23-day sentence last month the last straw.
"He was, and is, extremely embarrassed by how the Hilton name has been sullied by Paris," says Jerry Oppenheimer, who wrote a biography of the clan called House Of Hilton.
"He now doesn't want to leave unearned wealth to his family."
Hilton senior, the only member of the family left with a sizeable stake in the huge hotel chain, has let it be known that he intends to donate to charity the $2.4bn he will gain from this month's sale of the company to private equity firm Blackstone.
The money will go to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the charity set up in the name of the founder of the family business.
Source: news.com.au
Limited Time Xbox LIVE Arcade Price Drop
Been waiting to grab a few new Arcade titles? This weekend is the perfect time as we’re having our first ever LIVE Arcade price drop.
For the 48 hour period beginning at 12:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday, September 2 and continuing until 11: 59 p.m. GMT on Monday, September 3, the following Xbox LIVE Arcade games will be available for half their usual price:
Small Arms - 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Easy to pick up but hard to put down, "Small Arms" is a frantic multiplayer action game with the feel of an arcade shooter.
Zuma Deluxe- 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Explore more than 20 realms in Adventure mode and put your skills to the test in this fast-paced puzzle game.
Gauntlet - 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
The original dungeon crawler lets four adventurers explore and fight together as a warrior, valkyrie, wizard, and elf.
Dig Dug - 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
Experience the fast-paced action of this quarter-cruncher from 1982 as you take control of Dig Dug himself and vanquish Pookas and Fygars.
Remember: If the game is available in your region, it will be available for the ‘sale’ price during the above time.
For the 48 hour period beginning at 12:00 a.m. GMT on Sunday, September 2 and continuing until 11: 59 p.m. GMT on Monday, September 3, the following Xbox LIVE Arcade games will be available for half their usual price:
Small Arms - 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Easy to pick up but hard to put down, "Small Arms" is a frantic multiplayer action game with the feel of an arcade shooter.
Zuma Deluxe- 400 Microsoft Points (normally 800 Microsoft Points)
Explore more than 20 realms in Adventure mode and put your skills to the test in this fast-paced puzzle game.
Gauntlet - 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
The original dungeon crawler lets four adventurers explore and fight together as a warrior, valkyrie, wizard, and elf.
Dig Dug - 200 Microsoft Points (normally 400 Microsoft Points)
Experience the fast-paced action of this quarter-cruncher from 1982 as you take control of Dig Dug himself and vanquish Pookas and Fygars.
Remember: If the game is available in your region, it will be available for the ‘sale’ price during the above time.
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