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Please do not make the mistake of writing this view off as a casualty of devious Kremlin propaganda. On the contrary, the view I hold and share with the vast majority of Russians has been shaped and honed, paradoxically, by incessant anti-Russian propaganda emanating from London’s corridors of power and the media that ...
I do not intend to dwell on the long list of geostrategic and political differences between Moscow and London. Surely, each of side has its own interests and reasons for acting the way it does. Understanding these reasons is the job of respective governments and their foreign policy thinktanks. Manifestly refusing to u...
What we have been witnessing is London’s – and, more generally, Western – consistent refusal to treat post-Soviet Russia as an equal partner in international affairs. The more hawkish Western capitals – notably, London – have been trying to condemn Russia to be the defeated party in the Cold War, and to behave like one...
Many will point to Crimea as proof of Russia’s aggressiveness and threat to world peace. But they should consider that Crimea, rather than being the cause, is a consequence of the total collapse of East-West dialogue in which London has played a significant role and often been the cheerleader. More importantly, it is, ...
The accusations London has been flinging at Russia’s door fly in the face of every complimentary stereotype that Russians have of Britain and its allegedly gentlemanly culture. People at the top of the British government have been talking down to Russians as some kind of ‘lesser people’ in a language that invokes the l...
PM Theresa May accusing Russia in the Skripals poisoning without any serious evidence was downright shameless.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson likening Russia’s upcoming World Cup to Hitler’s 1936 Olympics was the ultimate insult – not only to Russia, but to Britain itself and the rest of the anti-Hitler coalition.
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson telling Russia to ‘shut up and go away’- does he even realise whom he is trying to bully? You can criticise Moscow all you want but it has never stooped to this level in talking to sovereign nations, big or small. Is an acute crisis in British education the reason for this excuse for ...
The current explosion of Russophobia and anti-Russian hysteria in Britain has no precedent in living memory. Not even the Cold War saw such blatant disregard for the norms and conventions of inter-state diplomacy. Anyone who calls for a meaningful engagement with Russia is branded a dangerous radical or traitor. People...
It’s hard to escape the timing of this latest chapter in London’s lengthy anti-Russian saga with a crucial stage of the North Stream 2 project, the football World Cup and of course the recent presidential election in Russia. Which only goes to show that the instigators are quite ignorant of what the Russian people are ...
We have no beef with the people of Britain. From what we can glimpse, more and more of them are sceptical of the anti-Russian propaganda spewed by the hawks in government and much of the media. The current cold winds will die down and our two countries will revert to a civilised and respectful relationship which has so...
As a proud recipient of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire I aspire to wise and dignified British statesmanship that will make it possible.
Vasily Livanov, is a legendary Russian actor, director and novelist, born in 1935. He was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth in 2006 for his exceptional portrayal of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes in the hugely successful Russian film series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson.
Survivors of Cyclone Idai arrive at an evacuation centre in Beira, Mozambique, on March 21, 2019.
Cholera cases were reported on Friday in the Mozambican city of Beira, adding a risk of deadly illnesses for hundreds of thousands of people who are scrambling for shelter, food and water after catastrophic flooding in southern Africa.
Cyclone Idai battered Beira, a port city of 500,000 people, with strong winds and torrential rains last week, before moving inland to neighbouring Zimbabwe, where it flattened homes and flooded communities, and Malawi.
The storm killed at least 242 people in Mozambique and 259 in Zimbabwe, and numbers were expected to rise, relief agencies said. In Malawi, 56 people died in heavy rains before the onset of Idai.
Cholera is spread by feces in sewage-contaminated water or food, and outbreaks can develop quickly in a humanitarian crisis where sanitation systems are disrupted. It can kill within hours if left untreated.
About 45 kilometres west of Beira, in the village of Guara Guara, the government set up a makeshift camp for people rescued nearby, with little water and no toilets.
As with many such camps, progress was slow as aid had to be delivered by helicopter.
On a beach in Beira, where the Red Cross estimated 90 per cent of the city was damaged or destroyed, survivors clutching infants and bags disembarked from rescue boats beside a ship marooned on the sand and began receiving Red Cross help.
Relatives and rescuers were digging through the debris, hoping to find bodies, but some of the rocks were so big they need blasting, a witness said. Most people lost relatives, workmates or friends in the township, which also housed government workers, including police.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said Thursday night he had come face to face with horrific accounts of people grieving the loss of family and friends in Chimanimani.
Some survivors have taken refuge at churches and centres offering temporary shelter as they deal with the trauma of their losses, while private citizens, international aid agencies and the government rushed humanitarian aid to affected areas.
He said Zimbabwe had a 62-day supply of gasoline and 32-day supply for diesel, which is in short supply and has led to long queues in the capital. In the city of Mutare, near Mozambique, diesel shortages were worse, according to a witness.
In Beira, Saviano Abreu of the UN humanitarian arm OCHA said the main problem with getting aid to relief camps outside of Beira was that they could be reached only by helicopter, since floods had cut off roads, and helicopters were scarce.
Large parts of Beira lack running water, but everyone affected is getting 20 litres of water for washing, cooking and drinking.
Commenting on Beira, UN humanitarian spokesman Jens Laerke said if people were desperate to get aid, that should be treated as part of the community response and not as a security matter.
The storm’s rains caused the Buzi and Pungwe Rivers, whose mouths are in the Beira area, to overflow their banks.
Google today, Jan. 7, tweaked its servers to make its Google Maps for Mobile application more intuitive by removing ambiguity around local business searches.
"Until today, if you tried to get directions and entered a business name, "Starbucks," for example, as the end or start point, Google Maps for Mobile did not understand that you meant Starbucks the business. Rather, Google Maps for Mobile would search for an address with "Starbucks" in it. Google Maps for Mobile now re...
No mistaking the value of this tool for BlackBerry, Nokia S60, T-Mobile G1, iPhone or other smartphone users who already use Google Maps for Mobile as they tour the world in corporate road warrior capacity. I'm actually surprised the ability to disambiguate between business and address requests wasn't already included ...
Better late than never, though. As Greg Sterling notes on Search Engine Land, the improvement is incremental, but for the class of people who hold mobile up as the next great Web surfing frontier, it might not be so trivial.
Because it's a server- and not a client-side change from Google, users don't have to do anything to enjoy this improvement to the app. Those who haven't been turned on to the app can get it here, google.com/gmm, on their mobile phones.
The Story: German prosecutor Fritz Bauer hunts high-ranking Nazis in defiance of a government that would rather see their crimes forgotten. The Lowdown: One of the most cogent and entertaining films to deal with Nazi ratlines since 1978's The Boys from Brazil, The People vs. Fritz Bauer probably tops that movie in my e...
About six weeks before his death, Ken Hanke reviewed The People vs. Fritz Bauer when it screened in May as part of the Asheville Jewish Film Festival. He loved the film, and so do I. Ken did a great job of capturing the film’s appeal — as he always did — so I wanted to include his review and follow up with a few though...
Now, as Ken mentioned, this movie is about more than just the hunt for Adolf Eichmann. (That aim amounts to almost a MacGuffin, as Eichmann’s fate is left to some closing captions.) Rather, this is a film about trying to do the right thing, even when at odds with a world that is indifferent at best, antagonistic at wor...
Writer-director Lars Kraume and co-writer Olivier Guez have delivered a tight, suspenseful drama possessing nascent neo-noir tendencies and dealing with its subject matter efficiently and adroitly. While last month’s Anthropoid was a slave to historical accuracy (to its narrative detriment), The People vs. Fritz Bauer ...
Ken rightfully called attention to Klausner’s performance, as it is the highlight of an already solid film. With white hair teased out like Dr. Mabuse, Klausner carries himself with a combination of strength and vulnerability that brings to mind Spencer Tracy, a comparison few actors could earn in my book. His capacity...
In short, The People vs. Fritz Bauer is a film not to be missed. Excellent direction and writing, combined with a compelling story and moving performances, make this one of the best films to play in Asheville this summer. Add in some particularly prescient social commentary (and an unexpected LGBT angle) and you have a...
Twilight actress Kristen Stewart has made her music video directorial debut.
Stewart has directed the video for a country rock band called Sage + The Saints’ song ‘Take Me To The South’, which you can watch below. The video was co-directed with David Ethan Shapiro of Starlight Studios. The song originally featured on the band’s 2013 EP ‘I Will Lie’.
Happy World Water Day! Here are 5 faucets that help you reduce your water consumption by displaying in one way or another the amount of water used the moment you turn on that tap.
Poor Little Fish takes the Flower basin one step further and replaces the flowers with fish! This installation aims to make water consumption tangible by playing with the consumer's emotions and thus, making him or her think about saving water. While opening the tap, the level of water in the bowl gradually falls but d...
By displaying the water consumption either digitally or emotionally, these 5 faucets help you save water.
The incident has been described as ‘intimidation’ by local Fianna Fáil TD Declan Breathnach.
Daniel McMahon had been missing from Ardee, Co Louth.
A man in his 40s was arrested following the search this afternoon.
The burst happened on a combined storm and sewage main on Quay Street.
The R173 road has been closed while garda forensic teams examine the scene.
After stepping down as Westmeath boss last year, Kelly has taken a coaching role with Paul McLoughlin’s side.
The victim is related to Drogheda criminal Owen Maguire.
Gardaí were called to a house in the Clonmore area of the town at around 11.30am.
He is due to appear in court this afternoon.
A 46-year-old man was arrested following a planned search.
A court was told the boy was lucky to be alive.
Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that Illinois’ fiscal state is so bad, he’ll need to borrow $1 billion to keep the government running this winter. That’s $1 billion on top of the $1.25 billion the state borrowed in August just so it could pay its bills. Even with all that borrowing, the state is $2.9 billion behind on bill...
Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday that Illinois’ fiscal state is so bad, he’ll need to borrow $1 billion to keep the government running this winter.
That’s $1 billion on top of the $1.25 billion the state borrowed in August just so it could pay its bills. Even with all that borrowing, the state is $2.9 billion behind on bills and faces a nearly $12 billion deficit.
When you look at those numbers, you’d expect lawmakers to make budget issues a priority when they reconvened Wednesday in Springfield for the last three days of the veto session.
As Chicago Cubs fans say: Wait until next year.
It’s unlikely lawmakers will do anything that might cost them votes in next year’s elections, so all you can expect is for them to deal with issues that will make them look good on the campaign trail.
One of those issues is campaign finance reform. Lawmakers thought they had it right when they approved House Bill 7 during the spring session. The bill was hailed as landmark legislation even though its limits on campaign contributions were more than twice as lax as federal law.
Reform groups called the bill a sham and Quinn vetoed the measure. Since then, reform groups have been working with legislators to fix the legislation.
CHANGE Illinois!, a coalition of civic, business, professional and philanthropic organizations, Speaker of the House Mike Madigan and others were meeting at the time this editorial was written to negotiate final points.
The revised bill looks like it will include stricter disclosure requirements and caps on contributions from individuals, labor unions and corporations. However, Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton want to exempt legislative leaders and political action committees.
They’ve backed off somewhat by agreeing to limits in the primary, but not the general election.
Party leaders and PACs can have a huge influence on elections, and exempting them from any meaningful campaign finance reform makes no sense.
However, we won’t be surprised if flawed legislation is approved so incumbents can thump their chests and say they helped change the system.
Legislative pay is another issue back in play because of a veto. It, too, could be used on the campaign trail if spun correctly.
During the spring session, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 2090, which changed how lawmakers receive pay increases.
Under Illinois’ convoluted system, pay increases recommended by the Compensation Review Board go into effect unless legislators vote to reject them. SB 2090 would have made lawmakers vote for a salary increase to get it. It also would have eliminated the cost-of-living increase for the current budget year.
Quinn used his amendatory veto power because he didn’t think that went far enough. Instead of a one-year deal, he wanted to totally eliminate the COLAs.
The Senate voted to override Quinn’s veto Oct. 15. The House probably will vote on the measure this week.
We’re with Quinn; we’d prefer to see the COLAs disappear, too. Many employees in the private sector have seen their wages cut or frozen and will not see improvement in their personal finances until the economy turns around. Our legislators should live under the same restrictions, but we can see incumbents telling const...
We also envision lawmakers bragging about how they helped restore the Monetary Award Program, which gives grants to needy college students.
Of course they won’t mention that they didn’t identify a funding source to restore the grants.
We can expect lawmakers to wrap up the session as quickly as possible so they can prepare for the long runs of the campaign season. It’s just as well if they aren’t going to do anything.
PARIS (Reuters) - What a difference a lunch-break can make. As the shadows lengthened on the 16th green, Rory McIlroy high-fived partner Ian Poulter to celebrate their Ryder Cup foursomes win for Europe and banish any lingering demons from a frustrating morning.
On the 13th, McIlroy, with the ball below his feet and almost in the water, hit a miracle shot that got Europe back in to a hole that looked to be slipping away. When Poulter sunk the putt for a birdie three, the chest-thumping began, and McIlroy’s day was resurrected.
WIGAN boss Roberto Martinez has revealed midfielder Jason Koumas could leave the club on loan.
Former West Brom player Jason Koumas, who has fallen out of favour at the DW Stadium, has been linked with a return to The Hawthorns.
Martinez admits there has been interest in the 30-year-old ex-Wales international, whose contract expires in the summer, and a move could be arranged.
Martinez said: “We have had clear interest from two teams for Jason.
“I think Jason probably needs that, he needs to play games.
“He has been in a mode over the last three years where he hasn’t played enough football.
Koumas joined Wigan in a £5.3million deal from the Baggies in the summer of 2007 but now appears well down Martinez’s pecking order.
He has made just eight Barclays Premier League appearances this term and featured only in the FA Cup since December.
With the main transfer window having closed, a permanent deal cannot be arranged until the summer but loans to Football League clubs are still permitted.
Omron showed off a face-recognition camera at Ceatec 2014 that's designed to be the "eyes" of the Internet of Things. The camera can automatically send a signal to turn down the lights when it recognizes that someone is sleepy.
Intelligent image sensors that can tell everything from your age to how you feel may give "eyes" to the Internet of Things (IoT) if technology from Omron is anything to judge by.
The healthcare electronics maker has been showing off a smart image sensor this week at the Ceatec 2014 expo outside Tokyo. It can automatically determine a subject's age, gender, age and facial expression, a sign of his or her state of mind.
The HVC-C, or Human Vision Components Consumer Model, fits in the palm of one's hand. It contains a small camera and modules for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity with apps on Android and iOS smartphones.
The device uses Omron's Okao computer vision algorithms, which can detect and recognize faces based on images in a database. The HVC-C can pick up where a person is looking, whether they are blinking, and hand movements.
"This sensor can be used as part of the smart home," said Seiichi Manabe of Omron's electronic components business.
Potential applications include positioning the camera above a baby's crib to monitor when it wakes up or cries, or using it as a motion controller for smartphone video games.
At Omron's Ceatec booth near its table tennis robot, the HVC-C was linked to a tablet showing an image of a virtual living room. Waving a hand near the sensor or putting on an angry or happy face would change the lighting in the virtual room.
"When you feel sleepy in your smart home, a sensor like this could automatically turn the lights down," said Omron spokesman Arihiro Yokota.
The HVC-C is slated to go on sale in December. Omron has not announced pricing or availability yet but said it wants to get developers interested in the device to increase its potential applications.
As components such as 3G modules shrink, more and more devices in the home and in other environments are coming online. Adding computer-vision cameras to the growing tide of connected non-phone devices, which IDC believes will reach 8 billion by the end of 2018, could add smarts to the nascent IoT.

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