Cultural Contusions and Confusions:

A statement on his website said that he "certainly did not call for its introduction as some kind of parallel jurisdiction to the civil law".

However, at least two General Synod members have called for Dr Rowan Williams to resign following the row.

Colonel Edward Armitstead told the Daily Telegraph: "I don't think he is the man for the job."

Dr Williams had called for parts of Sharia law to be recognised in the UK, and he is said to be in a state of shock and dismayed by the criticism he has received from his own Church.

Islamic Sharia law is a legal and social code designed to help Muslims live their daily lives, but it has proved controversial in the West for the extreme nature of some of its punishments.

He is undoubtedly one of the finest minds of this nation

Rt Rev Stephen Lowe

Colonel Armitstead, a Synod member from the diocese of Bath and Wells, said Dr Williams should move to work in a university setting instead of leading the Anglican Church.

"One wants to be charitable, but I sense that he would be far happier in a university where he can kick around these sorts of ideas."

Alison Ruoff, a Synod member from London, said: "Many people, huge numbers of people, would be greatly relieved [if he resigned] because he sits on the fence over all sorts of things and we need strong, Christian, biblical leadership right now, as opposed to somebody who huffs and puffs around and vacillates from one thing to another.

The long journey to Saratov has its wintry charms

If you've never been to Russia in deepest winter then your impression may be of a land of endless cold and darkness. And indeed it can sometimes feel like that. But not today.

Today was wintertime Russia at its very best. I woke to crystal-clear skies and dazzling sunshine. On days like this Russia can look spectacularly beautiful. With the mercury down around minus 12C the countryside is transformed into a fairyland of ice and snow.

The freeze-dried birch trees stand out against the flawless sky like giant candyfloss.

The green pine trees look for all the world like they've been covered with large dollops of icing sugar. The snow under foot is deliciously hard and crunchy.

The city of Saratov is another unexpected surprise. Russian cities are, as a rule, unrelentingly horrible. The few historic neighbourhoods that weren't erased by Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev are now being bulldozed by property developers.

Down on the waterfront I found an excellent German restaurant with real German beer and sausage!

The Volga here is almost five kilometres (three miles) wide, and at this time of year covered in a metre of ice. The locals even take their cars out for a spin on it! <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7234960.stm>

Like their colleagues across Iraq, the doctors and nurses at the Emergency Management Centre in Irbil work relentlessly.

With the continuing violence in nearby Mosul and Diyala province, war surgery is in great demand. So too is the burns unit.

The chief nurse, Ahmed Mohammad, has done the tour of the women's intensive care unit many times before.

"The upper part of her body is burnt. So are her head and her arms, as well as one of her thighs," he said.

Lord Carey said Dr Rowan Williams's suggested acceptance of some Muslim laws was "a view I cannot share".

But, writing in the News of the World, he said Dr Williams should not be forced to quit.

Dr Williams has insisted he was not advocating a parallel set of laws, but has faced calls for his resignation.

Dr Williams sparked a major row after saying, in a BBC Radio 4 interview last week, that the adoption of parts of the law was "unavoidable" in Britain.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7236849.stm>

Sharia law is Islam's legal system. It is derived from both the Koran, as the word of God, the example of the life of the prophet Muhammad, and fatwas - the rulings of Islamic scholars. .

But Sharia differs in one very important and significant way to the legal traditions of the Western world: it governs, or at least informs, every aspect of the life of a Muslim. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7234870.stm>

The decision overturns a lower court ruling which said the state need not recognise conversions from Islam because of a religious ban.

A lawyer for the 12 Coptic Christians described the case as a victory for human rights and freedom of religion.

The Roman Catholic Church is very influential in the Philippines

Twenty of Manila's poorest residents have filed a legal challenge against what they say is a ban on contraception.

The group - 16 women and four of their husbands - are fighting a policy which they say denies them access to condoms, to the pill and other effective forms of family planning.

This has had a devastating effect on their lives, they argue, causing unwanted pregnancies, pushing them further into poverty and harming their health and wellbeing.

The case has sparked debate in the Philippines where, says Professor Michael Tan, chair of the anthropology department at the University of the Philippines, there is no national policy on family planning.

More than 80% of Filipinos are Roman Catholics and the Church is hugely influential. Abortion is banned and President Gloria Arroyo openly backs the Church's anti-contraception stance.

The city will not use funds for the procurement of contraceptives

Dr Gina Pardilla,
Manila City health official

Previous attempts to pass laws requiring government funding for services like family planning and Aids prevention have been blocked by conservatives, Mr Tan says.

This has left crucial decisions in the hands of local officials and resulted in a very mixed picture nationwide - so this case is very significant.

"People recognise that the courts must decide once and for all whether local government officials can unilaterally ban family planning services," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7234291.stm>

Intelligence agents said two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan origin had been arrested in Aarhus at 0330 GMT "to prevent a murder linked to terrorism".

The editor of the newspaper that first published the caricatures said he had been deeply shaken by news of the plot.

The range, named Lookin' Good for Jesus, was on sale at three Topshop outlets in the Asian city state.

Catholics complained the cosmetics' marketing was disrespectful, full of sexual innuendo and trivialised Christianity.

The products included a "Virtuous vanilla" lip balm and a "Get Tight with Christ" hand and body cream, featuring a picture of Christ flanked by two adoring women.

"Why would anyone use religious figures to promote vanity products? It's very disrespectful and distasteful," the Straits Times newspaper quoted accountant Grace Ong, 24, as saying.

A spokesman for the Wing Tai company, which runs Topshop's outlets in Singapore, told the newspaper it did not want to offend its customers, and withdrew the products last month.

Frank Byrne says his removal broke his mother's heart

With torment still in his voice, Frank Byrne recalls the day six decades ago when he was taken from his mother and their community in Christmas Creek, Western Australia.

He was just five at the time, and his mother, Maudie Yooringun, had long feared the day that the government would come to seize him - and he would be "stolen".

"The government came to Christmas Creek where we had a mud house and told me I was been taken away," he said.

"My mum was completely ignored. She was not a human. That's what they thought in those days. The government fella said: 'I am your total guardian'."

"You could see the sorrow in my mother's eye. I could see the tears rolling down as she was driven away. I was held there by a couple of blokes as the truck went away."

A week later Frank saw his mother again. But that was to be the last time he ever saw her alive.

Traumatised by having her son essentially kidnapped by the government, she suffered a nervous breakdown and was committed to a mental asylum in Perth. She died when he was 12.

"They broke my mother's heart and her spirit," he said. "She lost her mind. They put here in a madhouse in Perth. But she wasn't mad. She was pining for me." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7240272.stm>

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised in parliament to all Aborigines for laws and policies that "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss".

He singled out the "Stolen Generations" of thousands of children forcibly removed from their families.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families says each child will have "at least five hours of high-quality culture per week".

There are to be £25m pilot schemes in 10 areas, involving visits to top theatre shows, galleries and museums.

She told the European Parliament in Brussels her life was in greater danger because the Dutch government had stopped paying for her security.

Ms Ali added that the cost of her bodyguards was beyond anything a private person could raise.

The Somali-born former MP has been living under police protection since the murder of Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh by an Islamic extremist in 2004.

Europe needs to defend her because she has defended Europe

French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy

She was threatened in a note left on his body for writing the script for Van Gogh's Submission - a highly controversial film alleging that women were being abused under Islam.

But she left the Netherlands for the United States in 2006 after a political row in which she admitted lying in her Dutch asylum request.

She now works for a conservative think-tank in the US and the Dutch government has said it can no longer justify paying for her security. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7245729.stm>

Doc in 'Body Worlds' exhibit stops using cadavers from China

NEW YORK - The doctor behind the ''Body Worlds'' exhibits that show cadavers in different poses says he has stopped using bodies from China for fear that some of them may be executed prisoners, ABC News reported.

Dr. Gunther von Hagens told the television network's ''20/20'' program that he had to destroy some bodies he had received from China because they had injuries that made him suspect they were execution victims, ABC News reported Friday.

The doctor invented a liquid plastic process that preserves bodies. He has put many of them on display in museum exhibits that show them in poses like playing poker or throwing a football.

One such exhibit opened Jan. 18 at the Milwaukee Public Museum and has had 100,000 people pay to see it so far, Dan Finley, president of the nonprofit company that operates the museum, told The Associated Press.

''It's the biggest exhibition we've ever done,'' he said. ''The best attended.''

Finley said every specimen in his exhibit was there with informed consent. He said it was his understanding that 8,000 people have volunteered to have their bodies, which are skinned for the exhibit, used in future ''Body Worlds'' shows.

Meanwhile, the company that is running a similar exhibit nationwide called ''Bodies ... Revealed'' is under investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, to determine where the bodies and body parts came from. Cuomo spokesman Steven Cohen confirms that subpoenas have been issued to the company but the office has drawn no conclusions.

The exhibit by Premier Exhibitions Inc. of Atlanta is now in Cincinnati.

A Premier spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Premier Exhibitions told ABC News it would cooperate fully. - AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/80821/Doc-in-Body-Worlds-exhibit-stops-using-cadavers-from-China>

The row began with Tuesday's arrests of three Muslims in Denmark said by the intelligence services to be plotting to kill one of the cartoonists.

All the major Danish newspapers next day rallied round their colleague, reprinting his drawing of the Prophet Muhammad with a bomb in his turban as a sign of solidarity.

But now young Danish student Anders Boetter says he has decided to start a Facebook site called Sorry Muhammad to apologise to Muslims on behalf of ordinary Danes and also give them a voice in the controversy over the row.

What does hurt my feelings is when a Danish newspaper publishes these very mocking cartoons of Muhammad

Anders Boetter
Sorry Muhammad

Anders says that in the last two years since the first printing of the cartoons, the media has built up a debate which is very black-and-white.

"Either you were for the Muhammad drawings or you were against it, but I believe there are many Danes who do not feel that way - they're somewhere in between and I am one of them," he explains.

"I am myself an atheist, but I do respect any kind of religion," he says, adding that the cartoons therefore do not offend him but he understands that it "hurts the feelings of Muslims a lot". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7247286.stm>

The attitude of many demonstrators was of resignation rather than anger

Hundreds of Danish Muslims have been demonstrating in Copenhagen against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad they consider offensive.

All major Danish newspapers decided to republish it after Danish intelligence said it had uncovered a plot to kill one of the cartoonists.

Protestors marched in the capital's streets shouting "God is Great!" and "Freedom of speech is like a plague!".

Many carried the black and white flags of Hizb ut-Tahrir - the radical Islamic party that calls for the creation of a caliphate.

Earlier, at Friday prayers, Danish Muslims from many backgrounds expressed frustration that one of the cartoons they find so offensive could have been printed again. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7247817.stm>

The Iranians want Geert Wilders' film banned

The Iranian government has intervened to try to stop the screening of a film in the Netherlands about the Koran.

The Iranians say that the film, by the Dutch member of parliament Geert Wilders, is offensive.

The Iranian justice minister, Gholam Hussein Elham, wrote to his Dutch counterpart, Ernst Hirsch Ballin, calling for a ban.

Mr Hussein Elham said freedom of speech should not be used as a cover for attacking moral and religious values.

Mr Wilders says his film will show the Muslim holy book is an inspiration for murder.

But the Iranian justice minister says it is an unnecessary attack on what Muslims regard as the holiest of things.

He said the motivation behind the film was satanic and urged the Dutch government to stop its screening.

Mr Wilders has already been advised that he may have to leave the country for his own safety.

But the government has so far refused to intervene, saying the issue is one of freedom of expression.

In 2004, the Dutch film director, Theo van Gogh, was killed by a Muslim extremist in an Amsterdam street after bringing out the film Submission.

It dealt with the issue of abused Muslim women and included scenes of nearly naked women with Koranic texts engraved on their bodies. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7248629.stm>

No, he had not called for a doubling of teachers' pay, the abolition of national tests, or even a ban on lumpy custard in school canteens.

No, his rallying cry was much simpler and involves no complex administrative changes or financial costs.

He urged everyone to stop talking about "delivery" in education and to return to talking about "teaching".

The speaker was Professor Richard Pring, of Oxford University, and he was not just being fussy about the use of language.

A quick look at any recent government documents quickly provides further examples

His point was that education has been taken over by an "Orwellian language" which has started to control the way we think and act.

Professor Pring is the lead author of a report, published this week by the Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training, which looks at how the aims and values of education have come to be "dominated by the language of management".

So when judging schools and universities we now talk about "performance indicators" as a substitute for assessing the quality of their teaching.

Learning has to be measured by an "audit" of the qualifications achieved rather than a more qualitative judgement of what students have learned.

This approach has certainly driven policy in adult education, where courses that do not lead to an accredited qualification seem to be dismissed as mere hobbies by policy-makers.

A quick look at any recent government documents quickly provides further examples.

Danish flags have been burnt at demonstrations in the Muslim world

Danish MPs have cancelled a trip to Iran after Tehran demanded they apologise for the republication of cartoons deemed offensive to Islam.

Two days before the scheduled trip, Tehran demanded the MPs condemn the cartoon on their arrival in Iran.

The row follows the arrest on Tuesday of three men for allegedly planning to murder cartoonist Kurt Westergaard.

The following day, 11 Danish papers reprinted his drawing depicting the Prophet with a bomb in his turban.

A condemnation and apology would help convince the Iranian people that Denmark's authorities had distanced themselves from the action, Iran's parliament said in a letter to Danish MPs.

If anyone needs to apologise... it is the Iranians

Villy Soevndal,
Danish MP

Nine members of Denmark's foreign affairs committee were due to arrive in Iran on Monday for a three-day trip focusing on human rights and the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme.

"We are not the ones to apologise," said Villy Soevndal, the leader of Denmark's Socialist People's Party.

"If anyone needs to apologise for freedom of speech, human rights, imprisonments, executions and lack of democracy, it is the Iranians."

There were protests and tight security around the theatre in Amersfoort where Johannes Heesters appeared.

Although Heesters insists he never espoused Nazi politics, he performed for Adolf Hitler and visited the Dachau concentration camp.

"He kept singing for the Nazi regime, for the Wehrmacht, and he earned millions," said Piet Schouten, representative of a committee formed to protest against Saturday's performance.

"We have a problem with that on behalf of all the victims," he told national broadcaster NOS.

Johannes Heesters, born Johan, began his career in Amsterdam in the 1920s and moved to Germany in 1935, where he enjoyed a successful career.

Heesters was never accused of being a Nazi propagandist, and the Allies allowed him to continue performing after the war.

Mr Bush has pressed Kenya to accept a power-sharing agreement to end weeks of strife following disputed elections.

This is Mr Bush's second trip to Africa. Its main focus is on highlighting the success of projects to fight Aids and malaria.

US students fight back against gossip site

The Cornell University junior was in his dorm between classes when the text message came in from a friend. Check out JuicyCampus.com, it said.

The student found his name on the Web site beside a rambling, filthy passage about his sexual exploits, posted by an anonymous student on campus. The young man could only hope the commentary was so ridiculous nobody would believe it.

"I thought, `Is this going to affect my job employment? Is this going to make people on campus look at me? Are people going to talk about me behind my back?" said the student, who asked not to be identified. He also wondered about his 11-year-old sister, who is spending more time on the Internet. "What if she Googles me? What will she think about her big brother?" he said.

JuicyCampus' endless threads of anonymous innuendo have been a popular Web destination on the seven college campuses where the site launched last fall, including Duke, UCLA and Loyola Marymount. It recently expanded to 50 more, and many of the postings show they've been viewed hundreds and even thousands of times.

But JuicyCampus has proved so poisonous there are signs of a backlash.

In campus debates over Internet freedom, students normally take the side of openness and access. This time, however, student leaders, newspaper editorials and posters on the site are fighting back — with some even asking administrators to ban JuicyCampus. It's a kind of plea to save the students, or at least their reputations, from themselves.

"It is an expression from our student body that we don't want this junk in our community," said Andy Canales, leader of the student government at Pepperdine, which recently voted 23-5 to ask for a ban.

The vote came after a long and emotional debate on the limits of free speech, and was swayed by stories from students such as Haley Frazier, a junior residential adviser. She had recently come across a teary transfer student who had been humiliated on the site barely a week after arriving on campus.

"I can't imagine the disgust she must have for Pepperdine if that's what (students) say," Frazier said.

College administrators say they are appalled by the site but have no control over it since students can see it outside the campus computer network. They say all they can do is urge students not to post items or troll for malicious gossip — and hope that in the process they learn about how to get along. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/81000/US-students-fight-back-against-gossip-site>

Edison Chen is to suspend his career "indefinitely"

Actor and singer Edison Chen has apologised and promised to suspend his career in the aftermath of a sex photo scandal which has gripped China.

Several people have been arrested after 1,300 private shots which Chen, 27, had taken were put on the internet.

He told a news conference he was "deeply saddened" and wanted to "apologise to all the people for all the suffering that has been caused".

Chen said he was stepping down from his showbusiness career "indefinitely".

Canadian-born Chen is a famous Asian actor and hip-hop artist.

He appeared in the Infernal Affairs trilogy, which was later made into the Hollywood film The Departed.

He was also in The Grudge 2 with Sarah Michelle Gellar. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7256657.stm>

Chaldeans are members of an autonomous Catholic Church that retains its own unique liturgy and tradition while recognising the Pope's authority.

Chaldeans form the majority of Iraq's estimated 550,000 Christians - around 2.5% of the country's population.

Their spiritual leader, Chaldean Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly, is based in Baghdad. He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007.

His Church originally comprised members of the Nestorian Church, and has had a presence in the country now known as Iraq since the 2nd Century.

Nestorianism ascribes to the belief that Jesus Christ has two natures - that of a divine being, the Son of a God, and that of a mortal human.

The Eastern-rite Church the Chaldeans belong to has a traditional liturgical language, Syriac - a linguistic descendant of Aramaic, the language thought by most scholars to have been spoken by Jesus and his disciples. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7271828.stm>

On Monday morning the search for a new goddess will begin

A young girl worshipped in Nepal as a living goddess has retired early from this ritual status.

Eleven-year-old Sajani Shakya is one of the three most revered living goddesses or Kumaris.

She was in the news last when she was almost sacked from her position for travelling to the United States.

For centuries the three major cities of the Kathmandu valley and a few smaller towns have upheld a unique tradition whereby a girl is chosen in infancy to be a Kumari.

To become a living goddess she has to pass ritual tests and have 32 beautiful physical attributes.

She will then live in a special house and be worshipped by both Buddhists and Hindus, including the king of Nepal, until the onset of her menstruation. That is deemed to make her human, so she retires. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7274132.stm>

It is the second-highest alert level, although the justice ministry said "there is no concrete evidence" that the country faced possible attacks.

The move comes as far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders prepares to air his film, which has already angered Muslims.

He has revealed that his 15-minute film is entitled Fitna, an Arabic word used to describe strife or discord, usually religious.

The project has already been condemned by several Muslim countries, including Iran and Pakistan.

The lawmaker has said his work will show how the Koran is "an inspiration for intolerance, murder and terror".

According to a Dutch daily which has seen some of the footage, the film has the Koran opening.

Inside the pages of the book are shown images of atrocities in Muslim countries that the film-maker thinks are inspired by verses of the Koran.

Last month, Mr Wilders said he expected that his work would be shown in the Netherlands in March and also released on the internet.

He said he was determined to release the film, despite government warnings that this would damage Dutch political and economic interests.

In the past, Mr Wilders - who leads the Freedom Party - has called for the Koran to be banned and likened it to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

He has described Dutch culture as superior to what he says is a retarded Islamic culture and believes immigrants must assimilate by getting rid of what he calls the intolerant and fascist parts of the Koran.

Mr Wilders has had police protection since Dutch director Theo Van Gogh was killed by a radical Islamist in 2004.

Mr Van Gogh's film Submission included verses from the Koran shown against a naked female body.

As well as the killing of Mr Van Gogh, Dutch politicians are mindful of the widespread protests by Muslims that followed the publication of cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad in newspapers in Denmark and other European countries in 2006. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7281746.stm>

The former prime minister has been appointed as a fellow at Yale and will begin teaching next year.

The prestigious Connecticut university said the work was related to Mr Blair's Faith Foundation which will be launched later this year.

Deep inside the tall towers of Eritrea's Ministry of Information, the battle-scarred war veteran leaned towards me across his desk.

His finger pointed towards a heavily-underlined copy of a report I had written the day before.

The former rebel, now a top official in the information ministry, was angry because I refused to name two ex-freedom fighters I had quoted expressing disillusionment at life in Eritrea today.

Given Eritrea's grim record for jailing its critics, I declined politely to reveal the names. I was then made to surrender my work permit.

Malaysians go to the polls on Saturday in a general election which has highlighted the country's fragile ethnic mix.

Opposition parties wield very little power in Malaysia's system

Tucked away in the corner of a housing estate in the Damansara suburb of Kuala Lumpur, a group of men are doing their bit for the campaign.

For decades these men voted for the National Front - the coalition which will win this election, as it has done in all previous general elections.

About 10,000 Malaysian Indians took to the streets last November to protest over what they see as years of government policies which have denied them fair access to government jobs, education, and new housing. Riot police used tear gas to break up the illegal march.

The prime minister has faced calls for his resignation in the wake of Saturday's polls.

The ruling National Front won more than half of all seats in parliament, but it still suffered unprecedented losses and lost its two-thirds majority.

The government had expected a drop in support amid growing concern over ethnic tensions in multi-cultural Malaysia and unease over rising food prices.

But the result was worse than anticipated, with the opposition making sizeable gains. Many voters from Indian and Chinese minorities - who make up more than a third of the population - failed to turn out for the coalition.

By David Willey
BBC News, Rome

The Vatican has brought up to date the traditional seven deadly sins by adding seven modern mortal sins it claims are becoming prevalent in what it calls an era of "unstoppable globalisation".

Those newly risking eternal punishment include drug pushers, the obscenely wealthy, and scientists who manipulate human genes. So "thou shalt not carry out morally dubious scientific experiments" or "thou shalt not pollute the earth" might one day be added to the Ten Commandments. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7287071.stm>

Lazare Ponticelli celebrated his 110th birthday in December

France's last surviving veteran of World War One, Lazare Ponticelli, has died at the age of 110.

President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the death on Wednesday, paying tribute to the last "poilu", as French WWI veterans were known.

"Today, I express the nation's deep emotion and infinite sadness," he said.

Mr Ponticelli, originally Italian, had lied about his age in order to join the French Foreign Legion in August 1914,

aged 16, Mr Sarkozy said.

There are a handful of surviving WWI veterans from other countries, including British pilot Henry Allingham and Austro-Hungarian artillery man Franz Kunstler.

France's oldest surviving WWI veteran, Louis de Cazenave, died in January, also aged 110.

The last of Germany's veterans from the war died also died in January. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7292109.stm>

03/17/2008 | 08:05 PM

NEW YORK - The Internet has profoundly changed journalism, but not necessarily in ways that were predicted even a few years ago, a study on the industry found.

It was believed at one point that the Net would democratize the media, offering many new voices, stories and perspectives. Yet the news agenda actually seems to be narrowing, with many Web sites primarily packaging news that is produced elsewhere, according to the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual State of the News Media report, which was released Sunday.

Two stories — the war in Iraq and the 2008 presidential election campaign — represented more than a quarter of the stories in newspapers, on television and online last year, the project found.

Take away Iraq, Iran and Pakistan, and news from all of the other countries in the world combined filled up less than 6 percent of the American news hole, the project said.

The news side of the business is dynamic, but the growing ability of news consumers to find what they want without being distracted by advertising is what's making the industry go through some tough times.

"Although the audience for traditional news is maintaining itself, the staff for many of these news organizations tend to be shrinking," said Tom Rosenstiel, the project's director.

NBC News' recent decision to name make David Gregory host of a nightly program on MSNBC, while keep his job as White House correspondent is an example of how people are being asked to do much more, he said.

News is less a product, like the day's newspaper or a nightly newscast, than a service that is constantly being updated, he said. Last week, for instance, The New York Times posted its first report linking New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to a prostitution ring in the early afternoon, and it quickly became the day's dominant story.

Only a few years ago, newspaper Web sites were primarily considered an online morgue for that day's newspaper, Rosenstield said.

"The afternoon newspaper is in a sense being reborn online," he said.

A separate survey found journalists are, to a large degree, embracing the changes being thrust upon them. A majority say they like doing blogs and that they appreciate reader feedback on their stories. When they're asked to do multimedia projects, most journalists find the experience enriching instead of feeling overworked, he said. The newsroom is increasingly being seen as the most experimental place in the business, the report found.

Most news Web sites are no longer final destinations. The report found that many users insist that the sites, and even individual pages, offer plenty of options to navigate elsewhere for more information, the project found. Rosenstiel said he's even able to reach Washington Post stories through the New York Times' Web site.

In another unexpected finding, citizen-created Web sites and blogs are actually far less welcoming to outside commentary than the so-called mainstream media, the report said. - AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/85213/Internet-changing-journalism-but>

03/20/2008 | 02:28 PM
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Writer Hugo Claus — an artist, poet, playwright and novelist whose books painted a scathing picture of repression and hypocrisy in bourgeois Flanders — died Wednesday by euthanasia, his wife said. He was 78.

Claus, who had Alzheimer's disease, died at Middelheim Hospital in Antwerp. "He himself picked the moment of his death and asked for euthanasia," not wanting to extend his suffering, his wife, Veerle De Wit, said in a statement.

De Wit did not say how the euthanasia, which is legal in Belgium, was carried out.

Claus produced some 200 works during his career but was best known for his classic, "The Sorrow of Belgium" — a scathing attack on social injustice, stifling family relationships and Roman Catholic repression in his native Flanders in northern Belgium.

The partly autobiographical work defined his career and shot him to prominence on the international scene.

Often writing out of anger and guilt, Claus relied on pitiless realism in his work.

"I am a person who is unhappy with things as they stand. We cannot accept the world as it is. Each day we should wake up foaming at the mouth because of the injustice of things," he said in a magazine interview more than a decade ago.

Claus also directed several movies and, as a painter, belonged to the Cobra group, centering on spontaneous, intuitive painting.

He was married several times, including to actress Sylvia Kristel, star of the 1970s erotic movie series "Emmanuelle." <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/85617/Belgian-author-Hugo-Claus-dies-by-euthanasia-at-78>

03/21/2008 | 02:24 PM

SAN FERNANDO, Philippines - Philippine devotees re-enacted Jesus Christ's suffering Friday by having themselves nailed to crosses in rites frowned upon by church leaders in Asia's largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation.

Fernando Mamangon, 37, was among the first of some 30 men scheduled to go through the Good Friday rites in three villages in northern Pampanga province's San Fernando city. Five other devotees, including a woman, were nailed to crosses in nearby Bulacan province.

It was Mamangon's 13th straight year for the rite, which penitents endure to fulfill a vow or pray for a cure for illnesses.

"I started having myself nailed to the cross in 1995 because my eldest son got sick and almost died," Mamangon, clad in a maroon robe with a crown of vines and thorns, said minutes before he was nailed to a wooden cross on a dusty mound in Santa Lucia village.

He said his eldest son was cured of complications from measles, but his 5-year-old son Alex still suffers from a stomach ailment.

On Wednesday, Archbishop Paciano B. Aniceto of San Fernando city urged devotees not to turn Holy Week into a "circus."

Aniceto said he has been telling penitents "to take time to thank God for the blessings and never use their devotion for tourism purposes."

The yearly tradition has become a tourist attraction, especially in San Fernando's San Pedro Cutud village, which sometimes draws thousands of local and foreign tourists.

Aside from the cross nailings, scores of men pound their bleeding bare backs with bamboo sticks dangling from ropes in a flagellation rite meant to atone for sins.

Aniceto lamented that a surge of vendors and tourists has injected too much commercialism into Holy Week celebrations.

But Mamangon vowed to continue with the practice handed down by his late father, who was nailed to the cross 15 times.

"After being nailed to the cross, I feel so refreshed, like all my sins are washed away," Mamangon said. "I will continue this until my son Alex is cured." - AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/85685/35-devotees-nailed-to-the-cross-in-Good-Friday-practices>

By Frances Harrison
Religious affairs reporter, BBC News

Crucifixions are an annual event in the Philippines

Health officials in the Philippines have issued a warning to people taking part in Easter crucifixion rituals.

They have urged them to get tetanus vaccinations before they flagellate themselves and are nailed to crosses, and to practise good hygiene.

On Good Friday dozens of very devout Catholics in the Philippines re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

It is something that has become a huge tourist attraction, although the Church frowns on the practice.

Disinfect

The health department has strongly advised penitents to check the condition of the whips they plan to use to lash their backs, the Manila Times newspaper reports.

Real nails are used in the re-enactments

They want people to have what they call "well-maintained" whips.

In the hot and dusty atmosphere, officials warn, using unhygienic whips to make deep cuts in the body could lead to tetanus and other infections.

And they advise that the nails used to fix people to crosses must be properly disinfected first. Often people soak the nails in alcohol throughout the year.

Every Good Friday, in towns across the Philippines, people atone for sins or give thanks for an answered prayer by re-enacting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7305522.stm>

By Aleem Maqbool
BBC News, Gaza

This is a tiny strip of land and its life is being drained out of it.

Gazans say even feeding their families is a daily challenge

For years, the spirit of those living here has taken a pounding, not only from the frequent Israeli military attacks but also by fighting between the various Palestinian factions here.

But now the territory's near-complete isolation - brought about by the blockade - may be delivering the final blows to hope.

"It's like being on death row," I am frequently told and almost every Gazan you speak to talks of his land being an "open prison". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7296750.stm>

By Chris Morris
BBC News, Thimpu

The day after its first parliamentary election, the world's newest democracy is already learning that politics can spring a surprise.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has been isolated for centuries

High in the Himalayas, Bhutan has always revelled in its isolation.

That is why a somewhat reluctant electorate was apprehensive about what democracy might bring.

The two political parties ran for power on similar manifestos, utterly loyal to their king.

So the result was rather unexpected: a huge victory for one party - the Bhutan Prosperity Party - winning all but three of the seats in parliament.

But do not expect revolutionary change in this traditional Buddhist kingdom.

The transition to democracy has been deliberately designed to be slow and steady.

Both the new government and the opposition say they are committed to the king¿s own five-year plan, and to the royal philosophy of Gross National Happiness, or GNH.

But what exactly does GNH mean?

"It means there has to be a better balance between the spiritual and the material," said Karma Tsheetem, the Secretary of the Gross National Happiness Commission.

"Whatever choices we make from now on - whether it's to do with urbanisation or globalisation or the type of economy we develop - we will make sure it is in harmony with our tradition, our culture and the environment." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7313325.stm>

By Paul Kirby
BBC News

He is described as a 24/7 politician with no time for other interests

Geert Wilders has released a controversial film about Islam which no TV company would broadcast and some politicians in the Netherlands tried to ban.

The Dutch MP has upset the Muslim world before, by calling for a ban on the Koran and likening it to Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf.

Nicknamed "Mozart" because of his mane of platinum blond hair, he was voted politician of the year in 2007 by the Dutch political press, partly because of his "well-timed one-liners".

But his opponents see him as a provocateur and a disillusioned colleague describes him as "the most stubborn man I've ever met".

His stance has created problems for the Dutch government, which fears a re-run of the cartoon furore in the Muslim world. Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has complained of the danger to Dutch companies, soldiers and residents abroad.

When asked about the impact of his film, Mr Wilders told a TV interviewer: "It's not the aim of the movie but people might be offended, I know that. So, what the hell? It's their problem, not my problem". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7314636.stm>

A budding surgeon, the doctor was allowed to keep a copy of the book throughout his incarceration - and he spent all the time that gave him to study it from cover to cover.

It sounded too good to be true, a chance to visit the rarely witnessed wedding ceremonies of the Rukai, one of the smallest indigenous tribes of Taiwan.

My informant assured me I would be among the first outsiders permitted to attend the traditional wedding, to be held in a few days time..............

............ Later, at the wedding feast, where 200 people sat under a long awning, tribal elder Wu Piriane shed some light on my confusion.

"So we asked the Taiwanese tourist board to sponsor us. They agreed and we supply authentic costumes and act out the roles we remember from our own weddings many years ago."

"It brings in money to the village and visitors like you. Next year we are going to advertise on the web in English!"

I said goodbye to Hsui-Min, who introduced me to her real parents, a soberly dressed middle-aged couple, and her new husband, Tony, a hotelier from Stockholm who raised a glass of rice wine.

A female agent of WWII was assessed as "not having the personality to act as a leader" before she was parachuted into France, files have revealed.

Pearl Cornioley, who died in February, ended up in command of 3,000 French resistance fighters.

Documents released at the National Archives say Mrs Cornioley was later commended for "colossal bravery" and "outstanding powers of leadership".

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) wartime agent was born in Paris to an expatriate English couple.

She parachuted into France in September 1943 to work as a courier to a Resistance group.

In May 1944, she assumed control of 1,500 Resistance members and on D-Day was appointed to command some 3,000 members of the Maquis, who were the rural wartime French Resistance. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7323747.stm>

Gerry and Kate McCann have travelled to Brussels to make the case for an EU-wide alert system for missing children.

Since the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine almost a year ago, the couple travelled across the continent, appealing for help in finding their daughter.

So far, France and Greece are the only EU countries to have introduced full alert systems along the lines of the American Amber scheme which involves immediate broadcasts on radio and television about missing children and information about possible suspects.

Within 30 minutes of a confirmed case of abduction, French authorities can flash up information on a missing child on motorway signs and ads are put out before national news broadcasts.

People searching the web for information on suicide are more likely to find sites encouraging the act than offering support, a study says.

Researchers used four search engines to look for suicide-related sites, the British Medical Journal said.

The three most frequently occurring sites were all pro-suicide, prompting researchers to call for anti-suicide web pages to be prioritised.

The 1961 Suicide Act says it is illegal to aid, abet, counsel, procure or incite someone to kill themselves.

But to be successfully prosecuted the individual has to have knowledge and participated in the suicide.

The researchers, from Bristol, Oxford and Manchester universities, typed in 12 simple suicide-related search terms into the internet engines.

Altogether 240 different sites were found. A fifth were dedicated suicides sites, while a further tenth were sites that gave factual or jokey information about suicide.

From a scabbard he pulls a long ceremonial sword. Calmly and with precision, he carves an arc in the air above his head with the blade, before bringing it down firmly, deliberately in the space in front of him.

Naoji Kariya, who is 90, is the last living swordsmith at the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, the place where Japan remembers its war dead.

He is one of the characters interviewed at length for a new documentary, simply entitled Yasukuni, made by Chinese film-maker Li Ying.

The film has attracted criticism from some lawmakers in Japan, who have described it as "anti-Japanese."

Those comments have been blamed for inciting right-wing activists to make threats of violence and stage protests against cinemas that planned to show the movie this weekend.

For the moment, the film - which has won awards at festivals elsewhere in the world - will not be released in Japan.

But the criticism of his documentary has disappointed Li Ying - particularly the comments from some lawmakers, who demanded a special screening before it went to the cinemas.

"'Anti-Japanese' was a phrase that was used here often before the Sino-Japanese War," the director says.

"It was used to encourage nationalism. It's a very dangerous phrase. Those who use it are irresponsible."

The joint Sino-Japanese production was partly financed by the Japanese taxpayer. The film-makers were given a grant of 7.5 million yen.

Some politicians have questioned whether this was an appropriate use of public funds, claiming that the film should have been more balanced.

During visits to Yasukuni he says he was at times threatened, abused, and on occasion had his equipment confiscated. Newspapers here have reported that he has received death threats.

He says he set out to try to understand better what the shrine means to Japanese people.

Those who gave their lives in the service of the Japanese emperor are honoured at the shrine. Among them are 14 class A war criminals, convicted after the end of World War II.

It was the place where the kamikaze pilots promised each other they would meet again once their deadly missions were complete.

Freud's sleeping nude 'paid £20'

Benefits Supervisor Sleeping
Sue Tilley posed for the painting over nine months in 1995

Lucian Freud's one-time muse was paid £20 a day to sit for a painting expected to fetch more than £17m.

But Londoner Sue Tilley said she did not do it for the money and had "lovely lunches" with the artist.

Freud's 1995 work, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, looks set to become the most expensive painting by a living artist when it is sold in New York next month.

Ms Tilley - who is now a job centre manager - joked she had now become a broadsheet pin-up.

Ms Tilley - nicknamed Big Sue - told the BBC's Today programme: "I can't quite believe it, to be honest.

"I only found out on Thursday afternoon. You know, I didn't have any idea it was going to happen, so I'm a bit in shock.

"I was reading on the internet...all the things about it. And I was just going 'Oh my god', I could hardly believe it was about me."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7343999.stm>

Number of suicides using detergent surges in Japan

TOKYO - At least four people killed themselves Friday by inhaling fumes from detergent mixed with other chemicals as a wave of similar suicides grew in Japan, reportedly claiming about 50 lives this month.

Authorities are alarmed by the sudden rise in such incidents — an average of two a day were reported in April — because the chemicals are easy to get and the fumes could spread to sicken bystanders or rescuers.

A 47-year-old man killed himself Friday in a Tokyo luxury hotel, said Tokyo Fire Department official Toshiyuki Miyake.

Officials said emergency workers also found a 29-year-old man dead in his Tokyo apartment; a man in his 50s at a public gymnasium in northern Tokyo; and a man in his 30s in an apartment in nearby Yokohama. All died after inhaling hydrogen sulfide gas, produced by mixing detergent and a bath lotion.

A riot policeman at the Narita International Airport near Tokyo also shot himself in the head in an apparent suicide Friday, said airport police spokesman Masaru Miyamoto.

The government has been battling to contain the country's alarmingly high suicide rate. The government said 32,155 people killed themselves in 2006, giving Japan the world's ninth-highest suicide rate.

"Suicides using hydrogen sulfide have surged since April," said Eri Okuda, a spokeswoman for the country's Fire and Disaster Management Agency. "It's so easy to obtain the ingredients and anyone can use them."

The suicide method can endanger bystanders, and specially trained and equipped emergency workers are needed to handle such situations, Okuda said.

The trend "initially started from Internet sites, where people exchanged information about how to do it," said Tokyo Fire Department spokesman Toshiyuki Miyake.

Kyodo News agency said its tally of such deaths reached at least 49 in April — after a monthly average of 3-4 cases earlier this year. No police figures were available.

The 47-year-old man who was found collapsed in his room at The Peninsula Tokyo hotel with a sign reading "beware of hydrogen sulfide" on the room's door, which was locked from inside, police and fire department officials said. A bottles of cleanser and one of liquid bath lotion were on the bathroom floor.

In the Yokohama incident the man was found dead in a bathroom when rescuers rushed to his apartment after a neighbor reported an odor from the gas, which slightly sickened three neighbors and forced 70 others to be evacuated, said city fire department official Hiroatsu Fujii.

Hydrogen sulfide is colorless and characterized by an odor similar to rotten eggs. When inhaled it can lead to suffocation or brain damage.

Annual suicides in Japan first passed the 30,000 mark in 1998, near the height of an economic slump that left many people jobless, bankrupt and desperate. The country has 128 million people.

The government has set aside 22.5 billion yen (US$220 million; €138 million) for anti-suicide programs to help those with depression and other troubles. Last year it set a goal of cutting the suicide rate by 20 percent in 10 years. - AP<http://www.gmanews.tv/story/91702/Number-of-suicides-using-detergent-surges-in-Japan>

Muslim woman in Pennsylvania kills husband who got 2nd wife

NORRISTOWN, Pennsylvania - A Muslim woman from the Philadelphia suburbs has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder for killing her bigamist husband.

Forty-eight-year-old Myra Morton pleaded guilty Friday morning in Montgomery County Court.

Morton shot her 47-year-old husband, Jereleigh, twice in the head last August. The killing happened only hours before he was to leave for Morocco to visit his new, second wife.

Prosecutors and Morton's own attorneys say she was upset that her husband wanted to have children with the younger woman. - AP <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/91700/Muslim-woman-in-Pennsylvania-kills-husband-who-got-2nd-wife>

The BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, a pioneering force in sound effects, would have been 50 this month. Ten years after it was disbanded, what remains of its former glory?

Deep in the bowels of BBC Maida Vale studios, behind a door marked B11, is all that's left of an institution in British television history.

A green lampshade, an immersion tank and half a guitar lie forlornly on a shelf, above a couple of old synthesisers in a room full of electrical bric-a-brac.

These are the sad remnants of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, set up 50 years ago to create innovative sound effects and incidental music for radio and television.

The corporation initially only offered its founders a six-month contract, because it feared any longer in the throes of such creative and experimental exercises might make them ill.

Using reel-to-reel tape machines, early heroines such as Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire recorded everyday or strange sounds and then manipulated these by speeding up, slowing down or cutting the tape with razor blades and piecing it back together. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7365120.stm>

More Cultural Contusions and Confusions:

Archbishop defends Sharia remarks

Volga road trip: Silver Bears

'Tragic protest' of Iraqi Kurdish women

Carey weighs into Sharia law row

Q and A: Sharia law explained

Egypt to recognise Copt converts

Manila women fight contraception ban

Danish cartoons 'plotters' held

'Jesus' cosmetic row in Singapore

Anguish of the Stolen Generations

Australia apology to Aborigines

Children promised 'high culture'

Islam critic asks for protection

Doc in 'Body Worlds' exhibit stops using cadavers from China

Danes clash on web in Prophet row

Danish Muslims in cartoon protest

Iranians urge Dutch to ban film

Lesson one: no Orwellian language

Taking culture to the classroom

Danish MPs refuse cartoon apology

Nazi-era singer returns to stage

Bush to address African conflicts

US students fight back against gossip site

Star apologises over sex photos

Who are the Chaldean Christians?

Nepal's 'living goddess' retires

'Substantial' Dutch terror risk

Blair to teach in the US on faith

Not so fond farewell to Eritrea

Malaysia vote exposes race issue

Malaysian prime minister sworn in

Fewer confessions and new sins

France's final WWI veteran dies

Internet changing journalism, but...

Belgian author Hugo Claus dies by euthanasia at 78

35 devotees nailed to the cross in Good Friday practices

Filipinos warned on crucifixions

Life in the 'open prison' of Gaza

Hyper girls 'struggle as adults'

Bhutan experiments with democracy

Profile: Geert Wilders

I studied surgery as a Japanese PoW'

Keeping tradition alive in Taiwan

War heroine 'not classed leader'

Could Europe alerts stop abductions?

Fears over pro-suicide web pages

Japan shies away from shrine film

Freud's sleeping nude 'paid £20'

Number of suicides using detergent surges in Japan

Muslim woman in Pennsylvania kills husband who got 2nd wife

Four sound effects that made TV history