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সোমবার, ৭ মে, ২০১২
Putin pledges unity while police round up protesters
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin took the oath as Russia's president on Monday with a ringing appeal for unity at the start of a six-year term in which he faces growing dissent, economic problems and bitter political rivalries.
Parliament is expected to approve to his ally Dmitry Medvedev, 46, as prime minister on Tuesday, completing a job swap that has left many Russians feeling disenfranchised two decades after the Soviet Union collapsed.
Outside the Kremlin's high red walls, riot police prevented protests by rounding up about 300 people, including men and women in cafes who were wearing the white ribbons symbolizing opposition to Putin, a day after detaining more than 400 during clashes.
But in the Kremlin, 2,000 dignitaries applauded Putin's every step down the red carpet into a vast hall with gilded columns, the throne room of tsars, where he was sworn in with his right hand resting on the red-bound Russian constitution.
"We will achieve our goals if we are a single, united people, if we hold our fatherland dear, strengthen Russian democracy, constitutional rights and freedoms," Putin said in a five-minute speech after taking the oath for the third time.
"I will do all I can to justify the faith of millions of our citizens. I consider it to be the meaning of my whole life and my obligation to serve my fatherland and our people."
The Kremlin's bells pealed, and the national anthem blared at the end of a ceremony which was followed by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church blessing Putin and the president taking charge of the nuclear suitcase.
Although he has remained Russia's dominant leader for the past four years as prime minister, Putin, 59, has now taken back the formal reins of power he ceded to Medvedev in 2008 after eight years as president.
AUTHORITY WEAKENED
Putin is returning with his authority weakened by months of protests that have polarized Russia and left the former KGB spy facing a battle to reassert himself or risk being sidelined by the business and political elites whose backing is vital.
"We want to, and we will, live in a democratic country," Putin declared, evoking patriotic images of Russia as a great nation and urging people to show a sense of responsibility and national pride to make the country stronger.
Putin made no mention of the protest movement in his speech and no promises of political reform in a series of decrees he signed after the ceremony, most of them focused on economic goals and efforts to improve living standards.
Despite his pledge, riot police, nervous after battling protesters at an anti-Putin rally on Sunday, cracked down on the slightest sign of dissent on the streets of central Moscow, many of which were almost empty.
At least 22 protesters were led away when a crowd of more than 100 started shouting "Russia without Putin" near two luxury hotels 500 m (yards) from the Kremlin.
"This shows that Putin is scared of dissatisfied citizens. Although there are not so many of us, there are not so few either," said 18-year-old student Pavel Kopilkov.
Dozens of others were detained by police on a boulevard near the route of Putin's motorcade to the ceremony, including some who had been sitting outside a French bistro wearing the white ribbon of protest on their jackets and coats.
A Reuters correspondent saw tables and chairs being overturned as the people were hauled away.
"This is shameful. This is not how you celebrate a holiday - this is how you celebrate seizing power," liberal opposition leader Boris Nemtsov said shortly before he was detained.
Police moved in quickly several times through the day as activists sought to gather in various locations for protests, pressing against crowds and detaining people.
Moscow police said 300 had been detained, but that the number included some people who were released and then detained when attempting to protest again.
In Putin's hometown of St Petersburg, police detained a few protesters in a crowd of dozens on the central Palace Square.
PUTIN UNDER PRESSURE
Although the protests, sparked by allegations of electoral fraud, had lost momentum before Sunday's rally, they have given birth to a civil society that will press on with attempts to undermine Putin's authority by contesting local elections.
Many of the protesters are angry that Putin is extending his 12-year domination of Russia and fear he will stifle political and economic reform in his third term as president.
He is under pressure to show he can adapt to the new political landscape. Few think he has changed much, if at all.
He has eased up on the choreographed macho antics that long burnished his image in Russia, such as riding horseback barechested and shooting a tiger with a tranquilizer gun.
Harder to shake off will be his habit of seeking total control, as political rivals begin to gain status and a rising middle class demands more political freedom.
He has to quell rivalries between liberals and conservatives battling for positions in the new cabinet under Medvedev, who is swapping jobs with Putin. The outcome of the struggle could help determine how far reforms go to improve the investment climate.
The $1.9 trillion economy is in better shape than that of most European countries, but is vulnerable to any drop in the price of oil, the main export commodity. The budget is under pressure from Putin's lavish pre-election spending promises.
Putin has said he wants to attract more foreign investment by improving the business climate, reduce corruption and red tape, and end Russia's heavy dependence on energy exports.
He called for the creation of a "new economy" in the speech and reiterated those goals in economic decrees signed on Monday, but critics say he has had plenty of time to tackle the persistent problems in his years in power.
He set out aims on a range of issues in other decrees, from higher wages for teachers and other state workers to better weapons for the military and a decrease in Russia's death rate.
As in the past, he is likely to use tough anti-Western rhetoric on foreign policy to drum up support if times get tough in Russia. But he never yielded his strong influence over foreign policy as premier, so a major policy shift is unlikely.
Putin struck familiar chords in a decree on foreign policy, emphasizing opposition to interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states and saying Moscow wants "strategic" ties with the United States but will not tolerate meddling.
(Additional reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel, Gleb Bryanski and Steve Gutterman; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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Dry rivers, vibrant with culture and life
Monday, May 7, 2012
'When the River Runs Dry' is a familiar song in Australia. Some rivers in the arid center of the continent flow only after a stiff monsoon season, and smaller tributaries all over the country commonly shrink to puddled potholes and dry river beds during the dry season. But rivers also run dry in more temperate climes. Much of the upper reaches and feeder streams of the great rivers of North America, and even the mighty Amazon, dry out seasonally.
Dry rivers are more than mere desiccated shells of their robustly flowing incarnations, says Australian ecologist Alisha Steward and colleagues. In the May issue of ESA's journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, they contend that dry river ecology is under-researched and under-appreciated.
"I was drawn to dry stream ecology from working on river health monitoring and assessment programs," said Steward, a PhD student at Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland. "Many potential river monitoring sites turned out to be dry and couldn't be sampled. It was very annoying! It started to get me thinking that 'dry' wasn't necessarily bad or unnatural - some rivers were naturally dry at particular times of the year."
Dry river beds have qualities and inhabitants distinct from their adjacent riversides, as well as from their wet-phase communities, says Steward. They are places of isolation and re-connection: when rivers flow, aquatic animals, plants and microorganisms, organic material, and nutrients flow as well.
Temporary rivers are conduits for biota even when dry, sometimes guiding animals through human-dominated landscapes that lack other continuous habitat. They demand great resilience of their permanent inhabitants, which must be able to survive the swings from immersion to dry land to wet again. Plants, algae, insects, fungi, and even fish have adapted to ride out the dry spells, sometimes seeming to resurrect themselves miraculously from the dust. In the more ephemeral rivers of arid regions, the demands are extreme, the flows erratic, and often separated by years.
But in arid country, dry river beds are oases for animals and people alike. They are sources of water and greenery. Worldwide, human societies use the rich and episodically dry land for vegetable patches, orchards, and pastureland, walking and vehicle paths, hunting and hiking, and herding animals to market. We mine the beds for sand and gravel to build homes and businesses. We park our cars in the beds, and hold races and festivals on the flat river bottoms.
Land use changes, climate changes, and diversions to water projects are transforming historically perennial rivers into capricious or seasonal flows. Impoundment behind weirs and dams can completely dry a river course, or, conversely, turn an erratic flow continuous or cyclical through controlled releases. Steward thinks these are good reasons to learn more about the ecology of intermittent river systems.
"Aquatic scientists seem to ignore dry river beds because they don't contain water, and terrestrial scientists seem to ignore them because they are considered to be part of a river!" said Steward. But they are not typically recognized as "rivers" by government programs, she said, complicating monitoring programs.
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When the river runs dry: human and ecological values of dry riverbeds (2012) Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 10: 202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/110136
Ecological Society of America: http://www.esa.org
Thanks to Ecological Society of America for this article.
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'Avengers' smashes record: $200.3 million debut
In this film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal)
In this film image released by Disney, Chris Hemsworth portrays Thor, left, and and Chris Evans portrays Captain America in a scene from "The Avengers," expected to be released on May 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal)
In this film image released by Disney, Samuel L. Jackson portrays Nick Fury in a scene from Marvel's "The Avengers." The film will be released on May 4. (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosenthal)
In this film image released by Disney, Chris Evans, portraying Captain America, left, and Robert Downey Jr., portraying Tony Stark, are shown in a scene from "Marvel's The Avengers" (AP Photo/Disney, Zade Rosethal)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Hulk, smash.
That's what Captain America tells the Incredible Hulk to do in "The Avengers," and that's what the Marvel Comics superhero mash-up did at the box office, smashing the domestic revenue record with a $200.3 million debut.
It's by far the biggest opening ever, shooting past the previous record of $169.2 million for the debut of last year's "Harry Potter" finale.
"The Avengers" added $151.5 million overseas over the weekend to bring its total to $441.5 million since it began opening internationally a week earlier.
That raised the film's worldwide haul to $641.8 million in barely a week and a half, more than its Marvel superhero forerunners "Iron Man," ''Iron Man 2," ''Thor" and "Captain America" took in during their entire runs.
If distributor Disney's domestic estimate Sunday holds when the final weekend count is released Monday, "The Avengers" would be the first movie ever to haul in $200 million in a single weekend.
A $200 million total for every movie in release is considered a great weekend for the business as a whole, so "The Avengers" redefines the standards for a blockbuster debut.
"If 'The Avengers' is any indication, we're going to see a leap rather than a gentle little nudge into new territory, and the lineup is there to justify it going forward," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of the huge-screen IMAX cinema chain.
Crowds were so anxious to see the film on IMAX's giant screens that Foster said the company had only one problem: it ran out of seats to sell.
Hollywood launched a potentially record-shattering summer with a vengeance, "The Avengers" landing as just the first of three huge superhero tales that highlight a lineup filled with other blockbusters in the making.
"The Amazing Spider-Man" follows on July 3 and "The Dark Knight Rises" wraps up the current Batman series on July 20.
Until the "Harry Potter" finale, 2008's "The Dark Knight" had held the revenue record with a $158.4 million debut. Before that, the record-holder was 2007's "Spider-Man 3" with $151.1 million.
So anticipation for those two films could rival that of "The Avengers."
Along with the superhero films, Hollywood's summer lineup includes the action tales "Men in Black 3," ''G.I. Joe: Retaliation," ''Battleship," ''Total Recall" and "Prometheus," director Ridley Scott's return to the sci-fi territory of his horror hit "Alien."
Big family fare includes the animated adventures "Brave," from "Toy Story" creator Pixar Animation, and the sequels "Ice Age: Continental Drift" and "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted."
The comedy lineup features Adam Sandler's "That's My Boy," Will Ferrell's "The Campaign" and Sacha Baron Cohen's "The Dictator."
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রবিবার, ৬ মে, ২০১২
PFT: Seau's family now unsure about donating brain
Getty ImagesAs the legal battle between the NFL and the NFLPA launches, with the players initially trying to steer the appeals of the suspensions of Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, Saints defensive end Will Smith, Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, and Packers defensive end Anthony Hargrove away from Commissioner Roger Goodell, nagging questions remain regarding the quality of the league?s evidence that players funded a pool that was intended to pay other players who inflicted injury on opponents ? and that players actually received money for inflicting injury on opponents.? Specific proof in this regard has yet to be made available to the media and the public, or more importantly to the NFLPA.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the union has had limited access to information establishing player guilt.? Specifically, the NFLPA has received the March 2 ?confidential? report of NFL Security (which promptly was leaked to the media by one or more teams), the March 21 announcement of discipline upon the Saints, coach Sean Payton, G.M. Mickey Loomis, assistant head coach/linebackers coach Joe Vitt, and former Saints (now Rams) defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and roughly 20 Power Point slides that were shown, but not given, to union representatives at a meeting to discuss the situation.? (The media, and in turn the public, has had access to everything but the Power Point slides.)
At some point, the NFL must disclose all information to the NFLPA, including the precise basis for the factual conclusions the league has reached.? It?s not enough to provide summaries of evidence; the league must identify for the NFLPA how it knows what it knows, and that evidence must be subject to scrutiny, via cross-examination or otherwise.
Earlier this week, NFL ?independent? counsel Mary Jo White carefully sidestepped questions regarding whether witnesses who supplied information to the league will testify at the coming appeal hearings, and whether the NFL will even disclose their identities to the NFLPA.? Again, there?s a fundamental difference between protecting a whistleblower and affording due process to persons accused of wrongdoing.? While it?s important to encourage persons with knowledge to come forward by protecting them from retaliation, it?s equally important to ensure that the information provided by such persons can be tested.? Eventually, a whistleblower must become a witness, or true justice cannot be done.
That?s not to say the players are entitled to the full range of Constitutional rights, including the right to confront accusers.? After all, this is a private, quasi-judicial process involvement employment rights.? Whether Commissioner Roger Goodell or someone else resolves the appeals, the players aren?t ?on trial? in the classic sense.
Still, they have a fundamental right:? (1) to know the specific factual basis for the conclusions that have been made; and (2) to scrutinize and challenge those facts.? By providing all witnesses with the kind of protection that, ironically, the league failed to give Jeremy Shockey, the NFL necessarily fails to provide the players with a fair opportunity to defend their reputations and their incomes.
For now, there are only conclusions offered unilaterally by the league.? Those conclusions can?t be tested unless the NFL discloses the facts on which those conclusions were based to the NFLPA.? Whether or not those facts exist (and the NFL surely believes they do), it?s wrong to conceal them from the NFLPA.
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