Newsspot – With Help, Afghan ‘Honor’ Victim Inches Back

To be honest, I was going to leave it a photo today, but seeing this post while browsing The New York Times made me rethink and decide to post this. It’s incidents like these that remind me, and should remind all of us, how lucky we are to live in western society where none of these ‘Honor’ killings take place, especially with Women. I honestly hope that Gul can make a full recovery, and that someone will find it in them to take care of her, now her family have seemingly abandoned her.

With Help, Afghan ‘Honor’ Victim Inches Back

Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

Gul Meena, who was reportedly attacked by her brother for dishonoring their family, recovering at a hospital in Jalalabad.

By ALISSA J. RUBIN

Published: December 1, 2012

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — It is doubly miraculous that the young woman named Gul Meena is alive. After she was struck by an ax 15 times, slashing her head and face so deeply that it exposed her brain, she held on long enough to reach medical care and then, despite the limitations of what the doctors could do, clung to life.

“We had no hope she would survive,” said Dr. Zamiruddin, a neurosurgeon at the Nangarhar Regional Medical Center in the eastern city of Jalalabad who, like many Afghans, uses only one name. After she was brought in, he worked for more than six hours in the hospital’s rudimentary operating theater, gently reinserting her brain and stitching her many wounds.

For weeks afterward, she was often unconscious, always uncommunicative and, but for the hospital staff, utterly alone, with no family members to care for her. That is because, if the accounts from her home province are true, she is an adulterer: though already married, she ran away with another man, moving south until her family caught up with them.

Locals say that the man who wielded the ax against her, and also killed the man with her, was most likely her brother.

That she reached a hospital and received care at all is the second part of the miracle: the villagers, doctors and nurses who helped her were bucking a deeply ingrained tradition that often demands death for women who dishonor their families.

Such “honor killings” of women exist in a number of cultures, but in Afghanistan they are firmly anchored by Pashtunwali, an age-old tribal code prevalent in the ethnic Pashtun areas of the country that the government and rights advocates have fought for years to override with a national civil legal system. This year, six such killings have been reported in Afghanistan’s far east alone, more than in each of the past two years, and for every one that comes to light, human rights advocates believe a dozen or more remain hidden.

Gul Meena’s story, as best it can be pieced together from relatives, tribal elders and others, gives insight into that deeply entrenched tribal culture. But it is also a story about a society struggling to come to terms with a different way of thinking about women.

The Americans and Europeans have put a special emphasis on programs to help Afghan women and raise awareness of their rights. Now, as the Western money and presence are dwindling, women’s advocates fear that even the limited gains will erode and a more tribal and Taliban culture will prevail, especially in the south and east of the country, where Pashtun tribal attitudes toward women are strongly held.

It is a credit to many people — villagers, doctors, the police, rights advocates — that they chose to help Gul Meena, overcoming centuries of distaste for dealing with so-called moral crimes. The doctors at the Nangarhar Regional Medical Center who first treated her and cared for her for weeks were aware of her likely transgressions and chose to ignore them. However, the doctors, who say Gul Meena is about 18, were also bewildered about what to do with her.

“She has no one; no mother has come, no father, no one from her tribe has come,” said Dr. Abdul Shakoor Azimi, the hospital’s medical director, as he stood at the foot of her bed looking at her. “What is the solution? Even the government, the police, even the Women’s Affairs Ministry, they are not coming here to follow up and visit the patient.”

A patient in an Afghan hospital without a family member is a neglected soul. Most hospitals are so impoverished that they offer only the bed itself and limited medical care. Gul Meena lay in her own urine when a reporter first visited her because no relative was there to change her sheets. Hospital staff members were able to tend to her sporadically, but they are overstretched. Without a relative, the patient has no one to pay for drugs, drips, needles or food, no one to bring fresh clothes.

 

Are you feeling grateful yet?

I sure am.

Not trying to go all Biblical, but this whole story reminds me of the woman ‘caught in adultery’ when Jesus intervened before they could stone her. What did he say then?

‘Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’

Now, I’m not justifying what she did, but ‘Honor’ killings, is definitely not the way to resolve the issue, and nor will it be anytime soon. Ever.

As you can probably tell, this is only page one of the article. I whole-heartedly encourage you to go and read the rest of it too, over here: NY Times – With Help, Afghan ‘Honor’ Victim Inches Back

亞歷克斯的！

Newsspot – U.S. Will Give Immunity to Some Young Illegal Migrants

Yeah, it’s been a while  since I did something like this, I know. Sorry for the wait and all, it’s just been exceptionally busy lately, and I’ll be away all of next week too. Anyway, enough with futile apologies, today’s article spiked my interest quite a bit. It’s always seemed a tad unfair to illegal immigrants when they get deported, even after living law-abiding lives all the time they’ve been in the states. Yeah, I guess the whole point is that they illegally immigrated, but you never know. Some might’ve had good reason to do so, though some people would argue that sticking to morals and law is more important that anything. What do I know though, I’m only 15 myself, and this sort of area is definitely not my best forté, so I’ll leave you lovely readers to decide what should be done, and whether this is a right or wrong move. You never know…I might even get a few comments!

U.S. Will Give Immunity to Some Young Illegal Migrants

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: June 15, 2012 at 9:36 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration will stop deporting and begin granting work permits to younger illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children and have since led law-abiding lives. The election-year initiative addresses a top priority of an influential Latino electorate that has been vocal in its opposition to administration deportation policies.

The policy change, described to The Associated Press by two senior administration officials, will affect as many as 800,000 immigrants who have lived in fear of deportation. It also bypasses Congress and partially achieves the goals of the so-called DREAM Act, a long-sought but never enacted plan to establish a path toward citizenship for young people who came to the United States illegally but who have attended college or served in the military.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was to announce the new policy Friday, one week before President Barack Obama plans to address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials‘ annual conference in Orlando, Fla. Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak to the group on Thursday.

Obama planned to discuss the new policy Friday afternoon from the White House Rose Garden.

Under the administration plan, illegal immigrants will be immune from deportation if they were brought to the United States before they turned 16 and are younger than 30, have been in the country for at least five continuous years, have no criminal history, graduated from a U.S. high school or earned a GED, or served in the military. They also can apply for a work permit that will be good for two years with no limits on how many times it can be renewed. The officials who described the plan spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss it in advance of the official announcement.

The policy will not lead toward citizenship but will remove the threat of deportation and grant the ability to work legally, leaving eligible immigrants able to remain in the United States for extended periods. It tracks closely to a proposal offered by Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as an alternative to the DREAM Act.

“Many of these young people have already contributed to our country in significant ways,” Napolitano wrote in a memorandum describing the administration’s action. “Prosecutorial discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.”

The extraordinary move comes in an election year in which the Hispanic vote could be critical in swing states like Colorado, Nevada and Florida. While Obama enjoys support from a majority of Hispanic voters, Latino enthusiasm for the president has been tempered by the slow economic recovery, his inability to win congressional support for a broad overhaul of immigration laws and by his administration’s aggressive deportation policy. Activists opposing his deportation policies last week mounted a hunger strike at an Obama campaign office in Denver, and other protests were planned for this weekend…

As you can probably tell, this is still only a small portion of the full article. If you want to carry on reading from where you’ve left off, look no further than here: NY Times – U.S. Will Give Immunity to Some Young Illegal Migrants.

I should be posting later on with maybe a personal post or photo of the day…but don’t be watching those inboxes too much, or there’ll be another ‘Great Disappointment’ if I fail to find the time.

亞歷克斯的！

Newsspot – A Father’s Example Guides Tebow

Hello there! You know, this article caught my eye today. Now I dont’ have much deep to say about it, but it always warms my heart when I hear stories like this. The bond between the west and places like this is pretty weak at its best, so when I see things like this, it’s an instant improvement to my mood, seeing how people actually go out of their way, take time to visit these children, and treat them like brothers and sisters. The be honest I’d never heard of Tim before, but to me he seems like a good, decent guy…but I’ll leave you to be the judge of that, seeing as I only know him from this article.

A Father’s Example Guides Tebow

 

Children at an orphanage founded in the Philippines by Bob Tebow.

By SETH MYDANS

Published: May 15, 2012

LAMSUGOD, the Philippines — The last time Tim Tebow visited his father’s orphanage here in the remote hills of Mindanao island, he stood at the edge of a grassy yard and told the children to make a loop with their arms. Then, to their amazement, he threw a football right through them.

“He’s really good at throwing!” said the Rev. Roberto P. Gauran, 67, who runs the orphanage with his wife, Raymunda, 65. “At 30 meters he could hit dead center, or even farther.”

That was three years ago, before Tebow’s professional stardom cut down on his time for travel to the Philippines. But the boys and girls here still toss around a football he left behind for them — among the very few youngsters in the country who know how.

“Kuya Timmy taught us how to throw it,” said Jessa Berbo, 16, using a local term for big brother. The word here at the orphanage is that Tebow himself singled her out as the child with the best arm.

Tebow’s father, Bob, founded the orphanage in 1992 as part of his missionary work in the Philippines with the Bob Tebow Evangelistic Association, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. He visits several times a year, sometimes bringing with him a group of American volunteers to preach in distant towns and villages.

On a recent visit, Bob Tebow showed the children a video of his son on the field and the orphans watched with a mixture of excitement and puzzlement, said Roberto Gauran Jr., 28, the oldest of the pastor’s seven children, who also works here.

“The children here know he is famous, but we don’t play football in the Philippines and sometimes we don’t know what is going on,” he said. “We watch Fox News sometimes, so we know what is happening in the States with Tim and we know that people are mocking him for his faith.”

But most Filipinos, obsessed with basketball rather than football, have not heard of Tim Tebow, or of his father’s foundation. His name rang a bell with one academic here who said, “Oh, is he the one who puts biblical verses under his eyes?”

 

As always, this is only a long excerpt from the real thing. To carry on reading, go over here: NY Times – A Father’s Example Guides Tebow

Newsspot – ‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million

Morning folks! Today, before I do my photo of the day and post on where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to, I decided I’d do a newsspot on art.

It’s a touchy thing, art is. Some prefer the older, more victorian style paintings, whereas some just can’t stand those sort of things, and prefer to appreciate the more abstract, minimal, and modern art of today. Some believe that art is everywhere. Music, design, architecture, photography, you name it, they’ll think art is there. Now, while not all of us will agree on one style of art, and whether art extends outside of paintings, drawings, and the like, one thing is certain: Art has become an integral part of society today. Countless museums are dedicated to it, millions appreciate it, and it is most likely guaranteed that we will come across at least one piece of artwork per day in our busy lives.

I’ve heard a lot about ‘The Scream’ in my short life, but, not being one for art when I was told about it, things seemed to have slipped my mind. Reading this article, however, has shed some light on the subject in terms of it’s history and origin. Looking at it from afar, and not giving much thought to it, it looks like something anyone could do. You know, just get some crayons, draw something that resembles a beach with a few people (one screaming, of course), and some dark sky, right? That may seem the case, but it’s the raw emotion and feeling behind the painting that gives it it’s value. The life of the artist , and what state they were in when the art was formed, often dictates how the painting is seen and viewed by the public. That, and most of the time what looks simple and easy takes months of work and effort, usually never fully appreciated in the artists lifetime.

It’s amazing how much art enthusiasts and collectors will pay for art which, in it’s truest form, is a display of the artists thoughts and feelings at the time of creation on canvas. I guess all of us have varying degrees of interest in the subject, but I don’t think anyone could truly say that they really don’t care about art in any sense. It’s where the modern design era has come from, and it would be an atrocity to brush it off as something of non-importance.

‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million

Jennifer S. Altman for The New York Times

The work, a pastel on board, is one of four versions created by Edvard Munch; the other three are in museums in Norway. The buyer bid over the telephone.

By CAROL VOGEL

Published: May 2, 2012

It took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The Scream” to sell for $119.9 million, becoming the world’s most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction.

Bidders could be heard speaking Chinese and English (and, some said, Norwegian), but the mystery winner bid over the phone, through Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s executive vice president and vice chairman of its worldwide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department. Gasps could be heard as the bidding climbed higher and higher, until there was a pause at $99 million, prompting Tobias Meyer, the evening’s auctioneer, to smile and say, “I have all the time in the world.” When $100 million was bid, the audience began to applaud.

The price eclipsed the previous record, made two years ago at Christie’s in New York when Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” brought $106.5 million.

Munch made four versions of “The Scream.” Three are now in Norwegian museums; the one that sold on Wednesday, a pastel on board from 1895, was the only one still in private hands. It was sold by Petter Olsen, a Norwegian businessman and shipping heir whose father was a friend, neighbor and patron of the artist.

The image has been reproduced endlessly in popular culture in recent decades, becoming a universal symbol of angst and existential dread and nearly as famous as the Mona Lisa.

Outside of Sotheby’s, there was excitement of a different kind, as demonstrators protesting the company’s longtime lockout of art handlers waved placards with the image of “The Scream” along with the motto, “Sotheby’s: Bad for Art.” Many in the group — a mix of union members and Occupy Wall Street protesters — even screamed themselves when the Munch went on the block. (Munch’s work was an apt focus for the group, said one protester, Yates McKee: “It exemplifies the ways in which objects of artistic creativity become the exclusive province of the 1 percent.”)

Inside, the atmosphere generated by the Munch’s record price carried through the rest of the auction, which saw high prices for everything from Picasso paintings to sculptures by Giacometti and Brancusi.

Of the 76 lots on offer, 15 failed to sell. The evening’s total was $330.56 million, close to its high estimate of $323 million. (Final prices include the buyer’s commission to Sotheby’s: 25 percent of the first $50,000; 20 percent of the next $50,000 to $1 million and 12 percent of the rest. Estimates do not reflect commissions.)

As is often true of auctions with star attractions, having “The Scream” for sale helped win other business. Its inclusion was a draw, for example, for the estate of Theodore J. Forstmann, the Manhattan financier, who died in November. The top work in his collection was Picasso’s “Femme Assise Dans un Fauteuil,” a 1941 portrait of Dora Maar, the artist’s muse and lover, posed in a chair. The painting went for $26 million, or $29.2 million with fees, within its estimated $20 million to $30 million.

In 2004, Mr. Forstmann bought Soutine’s “Le Chasseur de chez Maxim’s,” a 1925 portrait of an employee at the celebrated French restaurant, for $6.7 million at a Sotheby’s auction. It had belonged to Wendell Cherry, vice chairman of the Louisville-based health care company Humana, who died in 1991, and his wife, Dorothy. On Wednesday night the painting was up for sale again, this time with a $10 million to $15 million estimate, which turned out to be optimistic. Two bidders went for the Soutine, which ended up selling to a telephone bidder, working through Mr. Moffett, for $8.3 million, or $9.3 million with fees.

As always, this is just a small taster of the full thing. To view the complete article in all it’s glory, click no further than this link: NY Times – ‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million

Related Articles

• ‘The Scream’ sells for record $120 million (dawn.com)
• Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” sold at auction for nearly $120 million (bangordailynews.com)
• Munch’s ‘The Scream’ brings $119.9M at NYC auction (kansascity.com)
• ‘Scream’ painting sells for record $119.9M (timesleader.com)
• ‘The Scream’ sells for $119.9 million (cnn.com)

Newsspot – Rocket Plunge to Deep End of the Planet

Science and exploration is awesome, i’ve gotta admit. David Attenborough tops my list of best narrators when it comes to nature documentaries and the like…the sea included. Today’s nesspot is, of course, from the New York Times, and centers around something I found a little odd. Now, I know James Cameron made movies, as everyone in the western hemisphere does, but I didn’t ever at one point even begin to imagine that he was interested in deep-sea exploration…

I’ll let you be the judge of whether it’ll be a success or not, but for me, I think his little endeavor holds great promise, but also great risk…

As always, if you want the full sandwich, look no further than here: NY Times – Rocket Plunge to Deep End of the Planet

Rocket Plunge to Deep End of the Planet

Mark Thiessen/National Geographic

RECORD BREAKER  In a test dive, James Cameron’s submersible broke the depth record for piloted vehicles, going down more than five miles.

By WILLIAM J. BROAD

Published: March 19, 2012

 

For centuries, the daredevils known as submariners have slipped beneath the waves in vehicles made for horizontal travel. Their craft are basically underwater ships. Even submersibles, small vessels that dive unusually deep, follow the horizontal plan.

Until now.

In a stroke, James Cameron has upended the field — literally and figuratively. A man known for imaginative films (“Titanic,” “Avatar”), he has reinvented the way that people explore the deep ocean.

This month, Mr. Cameron unveiled his unique submersible and announced plans to ride it solo into the planet’s deepest recess, the Challenger Deep in the western Pacific, nearly seven miles down.

He calls it a vertical torpedo. The axis of his 24-foot-long craft is upright rather than horizontal, speeding the plunge. His goal is to fall and rise as quickly as possible so he can maximize his time investigating the dark seabed. He wants to prowl the bottom for six hours.

“It’s very clever,” said Alfred S. McLaren, a retired Navy submariner who helps to run a company that makes submersibles. “Nobody has done this kind of thing before. It’s a great idea, a tremendous idea.”

He likened Mr. Cameron to “an underwater Steve Jobs — difficult to get along with but very creative.”

“He’s driven,” Dr. McLaren went on. “He put together a hell of a technical team.”

Just as bullets are spun to steady their flight, Mr. Cameron’s craft rotates on its vertical axis — another first. In a test dive, he has already broken the modern depth record for piloted vehicles, going down more than five miles.

“He’s done something radical,” said Peter Girguis, a biological oceanographer at Harvard and head of a panel that oversees the nation’s fleet of deep-research vehicles. “He’s set aside the conventional wisdom.”