রবিবার, ৩০ জুন, ২০১৩

Job: Consultancy on Gender, Education and Innovation, UNICEF ...

By Maha Hilal Cross-posted from reliefweb: ?http://reliefweb.int/job/585662/consultancy-gender-education-and-innovationConsultancy on Gender, Education and Innovation
JOB

from?UN Children?s Fund
Closing date:?11 Jul 2013

?Download DOC (70 KB)
Terms of Reference Consultancy on Gender, Education and InnovationUNICEF HQ, New York is seeking a consultant to identify and compile content and manage outreach and coordination for a set of case studies on innovations that are propelling girls? learning and gender equality in education. The consultancy will be for the duration of 50 days between mid-July to end October. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in gender and education, demonstrate creativity in thinking, and strong outreach and project management skills.

Background:

Innovation will be an important strategy in addressing the nature and scale of barriers girls continue to face and ensuring they receive an education commensurate with the challenges of the 21st century. As the world evaluates gaps in achieving the global goals for gender equality in education and defines the post-2015 agenda, it is critical that innovative solutions are brought to light for the achievement of more effective, demonstrable and sustainable results for girls? education. Therefore, the theme of the International Day of the Girl Child for 2013 will be: Innovating for Girls? Education.Smart and creative use of technology is one route to overcome gender barriers to girls? learning and achievement, but innovation in partnerships, policies, resource utilization, community mobilization, and most of all, the engagement of young people themselves, can be equally important catalytic forces. In marking the International Day of the Girl Child in 2013, UNICEF is aiming to launch a short publication documenting case studies that highlight innovations that promote girls? education, including learning and empowerment. The case studies will be researched, prioritized, and compiled by the consultant under the guidance of staff from UNICEF Gender and Rights and Education sections. They will then be packaged into a publication by a journalist/writer in collaboration with the consultant. The consultancy will require a number of competencies and skills including clear and concise writing ability, and programmatic and/or academic research experience in education and gender equality.

Purpose:

? The purpose of this consultancy is to advance UNICEF?s efforts at identifying and promoting innovative approaches to girls? learning and gender equality in education. ? More specifically, the consultant will develop the framework and content for UNICEF?s publication on this topic for release on the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October 2013. This includes: o Defining and framing the concept of innovation in girls? education and gender equality to outline the parameters of innovation in education with a gender lens, including articulating why innovative approaches are needed and how they can especially advance girls learning, achievement, and empowerment through education. o Working with a network of researchers and practitioners to identify and prioritise a set of case studies of innovations that propel gender equality in education, documenting the specific nature of the innovative approaches and the expected outcomes. ? The consultant will manage the initiative under the guidance of UNICEF staff, reach out to key experts and sources within and outside of UNICEF

Source: internationalpeaceandconflict.org

Source: http://icti.ac.in/careers/?p=89916

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Nokia?s Future Survival is With Android

Nokia vs. Android

Nokia vs. Android

Nokia was once the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world, until Apple?s iPhone struck the first blow, and Google?s Android the second. Nokia used the most popular OS at the time, Symbian, until Android took over that top spot in 2010. Nokia sales plummeted and they started looking for ways to survive, but a funny thing happened on the way to their rebirth ? they decided to go with yet another struggling OS, Windows, rather than the more popular Android.

Bernstein Research?s Pierre Ferragu has been a busy person dealing with BlackBerry?s Q1 report, but still found the time to analyze Nokia?s woes, as well. He believes Nokia?s stock is overpriced even though it is down 10-cents or 2.6-percent at $3.81 per share. ?He concludes that Nokia cannot afford to continue offering only Windows Phone:

Our second conclusion is about how Nokia should consider it?s near term future. The company is facing two structural challenges: its exposure to the disappearing feature phone market and the lack of traction of Windows phones. Both could cost Nokia a lot of cash in the near term, in restructuring, marketing / distribution support, and operational losses, which means it could be too late to address the problem in a couple of years. From that perspective, a decision concerning a new platform strategy appears urgent. Better to take the pill before one cannot afford to do so anymore. We wouldn?t be surprised to see Nokia adopting Android as its new low-end platform by year end.
Nokia is hesitant about switching for two reasons ? one, even though Nokia pays Microsoft for the right to use their OS, it is far less than the approximately $1 billion a year that Microsoft pays Nokia, and secondly, Google does not advertise the Android system, but Microsoft spent $400 million dollars to advertise WP7?dollars that Nokia does not have to spend. According to their agreement, the fewer Windows Phones that Nokia sells, the more they would have to pay Microsoft. It is a tough situation for Nokia, their initial decision was based strictly on survival at the time and it may be too late for them to start making Android phones to survive into the future.

Let us know in the comments if you would like to see Nokia make an Android phone ? with Nokia?s quality and design coupled with Android OS, it could be a forced to be reckoned with.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/briefmobile/~3/-QzmrsHeRcs/nokias-future-survival-is-with-android

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Cher: Tom Cruise was one of my top 5 lovers

Celebs

23 hours ago

IMAGE: Cher

Rob Kim / Getty Images

Cher says Tom Cruise makes her list of best lovers.

They're both famous names, but did you forget Cher and Tom Cruise were once an item? The singer, 67, confessed on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" Thursday that she still ranks the movie star, who's now 50, among her top 5 lovers.

"He wasn't a Scientologist then!" Cher told host Andy Cohen. "It was pretty hot and heavy for a little minute."

Cher and Cruise dated in the mid-1980s when he was in his early 20s, before his first marriage to actress Mimi Rogers, who reportedly introduced the actor to Scientology.

When Cohen asked Cher to name her all-time best lover, she stumbled, saying "well, a lot of them kinda came in first. I've had just the greatest lovers ever."

When asked where Cruise ranked, she was quick to say, "Well he ... was in the top five."

Cohen showed Cher a number of photos of famous people, including Cruise and asked her to say the first thing that came to her mind about each one.

Elvis Presley, Cher said, invited her to stay with him once for a weekend, and she refused, "but I wish I'd gone," she said. Of "Moonstruck" co-star Nicolas Cage, Cher said, "Aw, I love him. But he's crazy!" Of producer Phil Spector, she said "he paid me $25 for a year's work. My mother didn't believe I was working." Of Michael Jackson, she hesitated, saying "I have too much information."

Cher will appear on TODAY Monday with Savannah Guthrie, and is scheduled to reveal some big news in advance of her comeback album, "Closer to the Truth," which hits stores in September.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/cher-tom-cruise-was-one-my-top-5-lovers-6C10486630

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Al Jazeera America network ramps up ahead of debut

By Poornima Gupta and Liana B. Baker

ASPEN/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Al Jazeera America has hired hundreds of journalists and finalized parts of its programming schedule, as it moves ahead with its plan to create a mainstream U.S. cable news channel that aims to compete with dominant networks like CNN and Fox.

The network, with headquarters in New York City, has already hired about 650 employees in the United States as it gears up for a late-August launch, said Ehab Al Shihabi, the executive director of international operations.

The network will focus on regional and local U.S.-based investigative journalism for its U.S. programming. It will feature a flagship two-hour long news program between 7 and 9 p.m., Al Shihabi told an audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival.

Al Jazeera may face an uphill battle in attracting a loyal U.S. audience, given that it is under the patronage of the government of Qatar. It will at first be available in only 49 million U.S. households - about half of the reach of CNN.

Al Jazeera, which has a separate English service called Al-Jazeera English, already available in the United States, has been trying to break into the U.S. cable market for a number of years, but it has so far failed to get significant traction.

Many U.S. consumers remember that Al Jazeera gained world notoriety when it aired videos of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's speeches during the early 2000s, and had been viewed by many as being anti-American - particularly at the height of the Iraq War.

Al Shihabi acknowledged that there may be a perception problem among consumers of Al Jazeera being a controversial news channel but dismissed the challenge as one of the issues faced by any startup channel. He said the network's programming will dispel any doubts about the quality of content or any perceived political bias and that a head of U.S. operations will be announced soon.

He called Al Jazeera America a "serious investment," without specifying an exact amount. He added the network will focus on investigative journalism, which they expect will give it a competitive edge.

As part of its investment in the U.S,. Al Jazeera bought Al Gore's Current TV earlier this year to allow it to compete with U.S. news networks like CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. Terms were undisclosed, but analysts estimated the deal could be worth as much as $500 million.

Al Jazeera plans to have 8 minutes of commercials in an hour, which is lower than the industry standard of 14-16 minutes, Al Shihabi said, adding that the network will launch with 12 bureaus in the United States. Al Jazeera is planning bureaus in major cities such as Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago.

The network's model is based on the one followed by the BBC, which is U.K. state funded but independently operated, Al Shihabi added.

(Additional reporting By Liana B. Baker in New York; editing by Gunna Dickson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-jazeera-america-network-ramps-ahead-debut-215735321.html

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Philly rapper ordered to take etiquette classes

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A judge has ordered rapper Meek Mill to attend etiquette classes and notify his probation officer before he takes any trips outside of the commonwealth.

Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley on Friday told the rapper, whose real name is Robert Williams, he must complete the classes before Aug. 4, The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/15REv46) reported.

The orders came at a probation violation hearing for Williams, who is on probation for a 2008 gun and drug conviction for which he was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in prison. He served eight months in jail and began five years of probation in the fall of 2009.

Assistant District Attorney Noel Ann DeSantis said Williams' statements on Twitter and other social media had been followed by threats to his probation officer from some of his fans.

Williams told the judge at the contentious hearing that detailing his travel plans was difficult because many of his business activities are arranged on short notice.

"I have my own record label with seven artists. ... I do radio. I do interviews," he said.

The judge said Williams needed etiquette classes to refine his use of social media and to help him explain the nature of his business to the court, adding that the etiquette classes were "more important than any concerts he might have."

Brinkley in December barred the rapper from touring for a month after finding that he violated probation restrictions. Williams' attorney argued at the time that the restrictions were preventing his client from earning a living, and said Williams didn't need to check in with his probation officer because his fans frequently take pictures of him when he's touring.

Williams' "Dreams & Nightmares" album debuted in October and he appeared in Jay-Z's Made In America festival earlier this year.

___

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.philly.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/philly-rapper-ordered-etiquette-classes-182741368.html

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'Man Of Steel': Filmmakers Reveal Visual Effects Secrets!

A new featurette shows the making of the other-worldy character.
By Todd Gilchrist

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709798/man-of-steel-visual-effects.jhtml

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Judge scrutinizes Facebook deal to end privacy lawsuit over ads

Facebook

7 hours ago

The loading screen of the Facebook application on a mobile phone is seen in this photo illustration taken in Lavigny May 16, 2012. REUTERS/Valentin Fl...

Reuters file

SAN FRANCISCO ? Child rights advocates tried to convince a U.S. judge on Friday that a Facebook legal settlement did not go far enough to keep content created by minors out of the hands of advertisers.

Five plaintiffs filed a proposed class action against Facebook in 2011, saying the social networking giant's "Sponsored Stories" program shared user's "likes" of certain advertisers without paying them or allowing them to opt out.

The case has highlighted tension between privacy concerns and Facebook's drive to monetize user content.

Under the terms of a proposed settlement, Facebook will pay $20 million to compensate class members, and promised to give users more control over how their content is shared ? changes which plaintiff lawyers estimate to be worth up to $145 million. Facebook charged advertisers nearly $234 million for Sponsored Stories between January 2011 and August 2012, court filings show.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco preliminarily approved the settlement last year, but he still must give it a final sign-off."

At a hearing on Friday, Children's Advocacy Institute attorney Robert Fellmeth told Seeborg that no minors should have their content shared with advertisers. Seeborg did not say how he would rule, but said his role is only to say if the settlement is fair.

"My function here is not to craft the perfect policy for minors," Seeborg said.

Related story: Facebook to pull ads from pages with sex, violence

Earlier this month, Facebook announced a retooling of its advertising product offerings and eliminated the term "Sponsored Stories," though the company can still share its members likes of different products. Facebook attorney Michael Rhodes said in court on Friday that the legal settlement would still cover those types of advertising practices.

Under the deal, impacted Facebook users can claim a cash payment of around $10 each to be paid from the settlement fund, and plaintiff lawyers are seeking $7.5 million in fees. Any money remaining would then go to charity.

Seeborg called the $145 million valuation of changes to Facebook's site "highly speculative." However, plaintiff lawyer Robert Arns said the changes were very significant. "We think it sets a new standard for all social media sites in the U.S.," Arns said.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Angel Fraley et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs. Facebook Inc, 11-cv-1726.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663301/s/2df2e708/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Ctechnology0Cjudge0Escrutinizes0Efacebook0Edeal0Eend0Eprivacy0Elawsuit0Eover0Eads0E6C10A48960A2/story01.htm

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রবিবার, ২৩ জুন, ২০১৩

Pregnant Jessica Simpson Steps Out For Lunch With Fianc? (PHOTO)

Pregnant Jessica Simpson Steps Out For Lunch With Fianc? (PHOTO)

Celebuzz:

Jessica Simpson continued to bask in her pregnant glow this weekend with a lunch outing in sunny California.

Read the whole story at Celebuzz

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Jessica Simpson continued to bask in her pregnant glow this weekend with a lunch outing in sunny California.

Jessica Simpson continued to bask in her pregnant glow this weekend with a lunch outing in sunny California.

Filed by Youyoung Lee ?|?

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    1. HuffPost
    2. Celebrity
  • ?

    Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/22/pregnant-jessica-simpson-fiance_n_3484087.html

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    শনিবার, ২২ জুন, ২০১৩

    Julianne Hough and Purina Purrmote Take Your Pet to Work Day

    purina and julianne hough promote take your pet to work day

    Here at Mousebreath World Headquarters, every day is Take Your Pet to Work Day. But today is the official date for this hallowed and celebrated occasion, and cats are heading to the workplace in droves to take advantage of this oppurrtunity.

    Purina is purrmoting the day with country music singer, actress and two-time ?Dancing With The Stars? champion Julianne Hough. Hough regularly brings her?Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Lexi and Harley, to her work locations. We still like her even though she?s a dog purrson.?

    ?I?m really excited to be working with Purina as part of the ?Pets at Work? movement,? said Hough. ?My dogs are my family and are with me all the time, even when I?m working.? I encourage everyone to join me and bring their pets to work on June 21!?

    Fifteen years ago, Nestl? Purina started a ?Pets at Work? program when they recognized the benefits of allowing employees to bring their pets to work. Each week, hundreds of dogs and cats come to work at the St Louis campus of Purina.?

    One of the resident Purina cats is Eva, who tells Mousebreath, ?This is one sweet gig.?

    eva the purina cat

    Nestl? Purina recently conducted a nationwide ?Pets at Work Contest? to celebrate America?s pet friendly companies, and nearly 140 companies applied.? At the offices of the winner, Ibex, an outdoor clothing company based in White River Junction, VT., dogs fill the workspaces and corridors as about half of the 42 employees bring their pets to work every day.

    ?We?re proud to have Julianne Hough join our ?Pets at Work? movement as she clearly believes in the benefits of taking Lexi and Harley to work with her,? said Gordon Wade, director of marketing, Purina brand.? ?As pet lovers and owners, Purina associates enjoy the positive experience of bringing pets to work.? Having pets walking through our offices every day makes for a warmer, friendlier environment at Purina, and we believe it helps with our productivity.

    ?We realize it won?t work for every company and every pet owner, but we encourage other companies to try it on ?National Bring Your Pet To Work Day? and see for themselves how bringing pets to work can be a real benefit ? for pets and their owners.?

    According to the Los Angeles Times, a study* has shown that employees who bring their pets to work tend to have a lower stress level by the end of the day.? Stress in the workplace has been associated with negative physical and psychological outcomes, including a general decline in physical health.? The study found that interacting with their pets lowered the levels of cortisol in the employees? bodies, a stress-related hormone that can lead to high cholesterol levels, hypertension and depression.?

    The Center for Disease Control** says that having pets can help reduce blood pressure, decrease loneliness, help to lower cholesterol levels and encourage physical activity.? The better an employee feels on a regular basis, the more they are able to stay focused and produce quality work.

    In addition to these health benefits, pets in the office can:

    • Increase productivity and provide inspiration:? Having pets nearby can help keep an employee relaxed and happy ? making work more enjoyable.?
    • Improve job satisfaction: At Purina, employee surveys show Pets at Work is a big benefit, and the company also believes it helps with employee retention.
    • Encourage co-worker interaction: Pets add another layer of interaction between co-workers, and otherwise quiet employees can become more engaged when talking to a co-worker about their pets.
    • Promote healthy break time: Dog owners tend to spend their breaks walking and caring for their dogs, getting them on their feet.? Even just taking a few minutes to play with a pet can help provide a mental break and lower stress.
    • Project healthy work-life balance: For many people, pets are a huge part of their lives.? Companies that encourage pets in the workplace show that they care about their employees and the balance between work and home.

    Purina provides five simple suggestions for pet owners to help create a welcoming, pet-friendly program at their workplace.? For more information, visit www.petsatwork.com. ?

    Purina encourages others to join the movement by posting a ?Like? on Pets at Work at www.facebook.com/Purina.? Follow the initiative on Twitter, @Purina, and join the discussion at #PetsAtWork.

    ?

    _______________________________

    *Los Angeles Times: ?Bringing Your Dog to Work Can Ease Stress, Study Finds,? March 30, 2012;

    **Center for Disease Control website (http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/health_benefits.htm)? ?Health Benefits of Pets;?

    Tags: dancing with the stars, featured, Gordon Wade, Ibex, julianne hough, Nestle Purina, Pets at Work, Purina, St. Louis, Take Your Pet to Work

    Category: 0 - Featured, Lifestyle

    Source: http://mousebreath.com/2013/06/julianne-hough-and-purina-purrmote-take-your-pet-to-work-day/

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    Review: The Bling Ring - Toronto Film Scene

    Based on a true life 2009 crime spree documented in a Vanity Fair article by Nancy Jo Sales, The Bling Ring recounts the truly bizarre story of?a gang of wealthy teenage burglars who take their obsession with celebrity to the next level of fandom. Using celebrity gossip sites to track the whereabouts of their favourite famous personalities, and Google Maps to find out their addresses, ringleader Rebecca (Katie Chang), her submissive best friend Marc (Israel Broussard) and the rest of her rotating gang of bling ringers (including Emma Watson and Taissa Farmiga) are able to slip in?usually with the aid of an unlocked patio door or key left under the mat??shop? in the inevitably massive walk-in closet with adjoining shoe/jewellery room and slip back out undetected.

    Using this simple game plan, they?re able to hit Paris Hilton?s house several times and also grab goodies from the likes of Megan Fox, Lindsay Lohan and Orlando Bloom?most of which they sell in order to fund their shopping and clubbing habits?all the while documenting their new rock star lifestyles on Facebook and Twitter. Is it any wonder that the police eventually catch on? The teens seem to think so, and that?s one of the most interesting points made by the film. These kids (and the celebrities they worship) have grown so accustomed to living their lives in public that they?re unprepared for how social media can turn around and bite them in the ass. Coppola has made a very ?of the moment? film that may well turn out to be the best document of the current trend of fetishizing celebrity and everyone?s seeming need to be famous in their own right.

    Over the years I have come to realize that Sofia Coppola?s films are rather polarizing amongst cinephiles. As I was leaving this screening I overheard another critic say, ?I have yet to like a Sofia Coppola movie? ? this was interesting to me because at that exact same moment I was thinking, ?Will Sofia Coppola ever manage to produce a film that I don?t immediately adore??. Basically what I?m trying to say is that I?m clearly the sort of audience who loves her lackadaisical, uniquely California girl sensibility and take on pretty much every subject she tackles, but there are certainly people out there who simply will not appreciate it no matter what. Her films are not your cup of tea and that?s ok.

    The Bling Ring is probably her least accessible film to date (although some may argue that Somewhere takes that prize) despite the fact that it has the most obvious and heavy handed moral of them all. Coppola has made the choice to relate the story in a coolheaded, non-judgmental manner that allows for the audience to really get inside the lives of the characters and experience the creepiness of what they?re doing as though they were there, trying on Paris Hilton?s dresses and swinging about on her stripper pole along with the bling ring. It?s this non-traditional and decidedly uncynical approach that yields such?an intriguingly intuitive and atmospheric movie yet it?s also this technique that might rub people the wrong way. In movies like this we?re used to seeing lots of drama as the gang of thieves eventually turn on one another and bring about their own downfall. Here, the teens are so disaffected that they?re too stunned and vacant to react the way we expect them to, which makes it all the more unsettling to watch.

    Is The Bling Ring Opening Weekend Worthy?

    Yes ? with reservations. If you haven?t liked Sofia Coppola movies in the past then this is not the movie that?s going to clue you in to what others see in her work. If you?re a fan or open to the possibility of what her films have to offer then The Bling Ring is certainly worth your cinema dollars this weekend.

    The Bling Ring Trailer

    The Bling Ring Production Gallery

    This slideshow requires JavaScript.

    Kristal Cooper has been a film buff since the age of two when her parents began sneaking her into the drive-in every weekend. Since then, she?s pursued that passion by working for the Toronto International Film Festival and the Canadian Film Centre as well as spending many a happy hour inside Toronto?s wonderful theatres (she still mourns the loss of The Uptown). She currently acts as Toronto Film Scene?s Editor-in-Chief, is a freelance writer specializing in pop culture and feminist issues, and continues to slog away at her day job as a small cog in the giant machinery of the Toronto film community.

    Source: http://thetfs.ca/2013/06/21/review-the-bling-ring/

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    91% Frances Ha

    All Critics (98) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (89) | Rotten (9)

    This is an odd film (creepier than it knows), and even if you feel the atmospheric company of Dunham-ism, with a little of Whit Stillman, Henry Jaglom, and Woody Allen, the core influence on Noah Baumbach's film is fifty years older or more.

    Baumbach usually builds his films around difficult protagonists, but Frances is entirely endearing, at once silly and deep, hopeless and promising.

    The dialogue and editing are zippy and generally charming, combining with the tart observations of 20-something culture to create a nice frisson.

    A black-and-white salute to the French New Wave (the score is borrowed from Georges Delerue, composer of many a Truffaut and Godard film) that manages to be very much of this moment ...

    The movie's a love letter to an actress and her character, but by the end you may feel like an intervention is more in order.

    The obvious love of New York City echoes Woody Allen at his best. But "Frances Ha" is very much its own film, a story of life and love and messy rooms.

    Gerwig keeps you on side and rooting for Frances to get her act together in what becomes an affectionate salute to messy lives, an endearing underachiever and a New York state of mind.

    Don't be fooled by Frances with all her feigned insecurity and branding of herself as "undateable" and predicting she'll be a lonely spinster. She's a psychopath.

    Gerwig's deft screwball timing turns every disaster into a grace note. This may be a comedy of awkwardness, but rather than curl, your toes will tap.

    A refreshing amount of buoyancy to dance and charm its way through Quarter-Life Crisis territory. One of the best performances of Greta Gerwig's career to date

    Frances Ha is a sympathetic but not uncritical depiction of a girl's gradual evolution into a woman; one that never condescends by forcing her to abandon all her quirks and impish qualities in the final act... An absolute delight, this is.

    Indie darling Gerwig has a great deal to do with the picture's success: she's disarmingly likable...

    There's a level of audacity beneath the lightweight whimsy in this unassuming low-budget comedy.

    "Frances Ha makes a star out of Gerwig, and she's the kind of star we need: a goofy one we can feel tender about but never underestimate."

    'I can't account for my own bruises,' Frances says, as if she were a clumsy kid with an adult's vocabulary. Does the remark refer to more than the abrasions on her skin?

    A celebration of cinema, New York City and the distinctive charms of actress Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha was co-written by Gerwig and its director, Noah Baumbach, and it's the best film either has made.

    There's a thin line between comedy and tragedy, and Greta Gerwig walks it remarkably well.

    There's depth and realism in the way Frances Ha shows aspiration versus reality.

    Gerwig, beyond a doubt, is immeasurably appealing, and Frances Ha is tailor-made to showcase her gifts better than anything she's ever been in.

    ...if you hold your nose and simply wallow through the stench of self-aggrandizement, you'll be rewarded with an experience that will actually tug on your emotions.

    Frances Ha provides a sharp, fleet, and very funny look at female friendship and the acceptance of adult responsibilities.

    This is very minimalist storytelling much of which feels improvised in front of the camera. The film is more of a character situation than a character story.

    Frances Ha is endearing, kind and, in many ways, Noah Baumbach's best movie to date.

    It's a film that bears all of the zingy dialogue and sharp characterizations of Baumbach's other films ("The Squid and the Whale," "Greenberg") but with more of a generosity of spirit towards its characters.

    No quotes approved yet for Frances Ha. Logged in users can submit quotes.

    Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/frances_ha_2013/

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    Scholarship created in memory of MSU faculty member - iskander1988

    Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

    Source: http://iskander1988.blogspot.com/2013/06/scholarship-created-in-memory-of-msu.html

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    শুক্রবার, ২১ জুন, ২০১৩

    NKorea demands dissolution of UN command in SKorea

    UNITED NATIONS (AP) ? North Korea's U.N. envoy demanded the dissolution of the United Nations Command in South Korea on Friday, accusing the United States of using the force to prepare for war against the North and build an Asian version of NATO to realize President Barack Obama's pivot to Asia.

    Ambassador Sin Son Ho told reporters at a rare news conference that the most pressing issue in northeast Asia today is the hostile relations between North Korea and the United States "which can lead to a new war at any moment."

    He reiterated North Korea's surprise offer last Saturday of wide-ranging senior-level talks with the United States "to defuse tension on the Korean peninsula and ensure peace and security in the region."

    The proposed talks followed months of rising tensions and anti-American rhetoric by North Korea and the collapse earlier this month of proposed high-level talks between North and South Korea, amid bickering over who would lead the two delegations.

    Sin stressed that the deteriorating situation on the Korean peninsula "is not caused by the DPRK," the initials of the country's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

    "All deteriorations and intensified situations (are) entirely caused by the United States of America," he insisted on several occasions.

    Sin said U.S.-North Korea talks should include replacing the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War ? and he stressed that one of the "prerequisite requirements" for establishing "a peace mechanism" to replace the armistice is the dissolution of the U.S.-led U.N. Command.

    The ambassador said the talks can include "a world without nuclear weapons," which the United States has already proposed.

    But he warned that North Korea will not give up its nuclear "self-defense deterrent" unless the United States "fundamentally and irreversibly abandons its hostile policy and nuclear threat" toward the North and dissolves the U.N. Command, which oversees the armistice, and as long as there are nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

    The U.S. State Department said: "The United States remains committed to authentic and credible talks on denuclearization" in order to implement a Sept. 19, 2005 joint statement in which the DPRK made a commitment to abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs, and to bring North Korea into compliance with U.N. Security Council resolutions "through irreversible steps leading to denuclearization."

    The Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, and left the Korean peninsula divided by a heavily fortified border monitored by the U.N. Command. Washington also stations 28,500 American troops in South Korea to protect its ally against North Korean aggression.

    A U.N. Security Council resolution adopted two days after North Korean troops invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, recommended that U.N. member states provide military forces and other assistance "to a unified command under the United States of America" to assist the South.

    At peak strength, when the armistice was signed in July 1953, the command had over 930,000 troops from 17 countries, including more than 590,000 South Koreans and 302,000 Americans. Since then, the command has overseen the armistice.

    In 1994, then U.N. secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali distanced the United Nations from the U.N. Command saying in a letter to North Korea's foreign minister that the Security Council didn't establish it "but merely recommended the creation of such a command, specifying that it be under the authority of the United States."

    "Therefore the dissolution of the unified command does not fall within the responsibility of any United Nations organ but is a matter within the competence of the Government of the United States," Boutros-Ghali was quoted as saying.

    In a lengthy statement, Sin claimed the U.N. Command "was a tool of war for aggression which was organized by the U.S." and "has nothing to do with the U.N."

    "The U.N. Command is the U.S. command in essence," he said, and if necessary the DPRK will submit the issue to the U.N. General Assembly to dissolve it.

    Sin said all the facts show that the U.S. is gradually transforming the U.N. Command into a multinational military alliance "which would serve as a matrix of the Asian version of NATO" and "a stepping stone for the U.S. armed forces for aggression toward the DPRK and the realization of ... America's pivot to Asia strategy."

    The U.S. aim, he said, is to make South Korea "a forward base for domination of (the) Asia Pacific region and hold fast to it as a cannon fodder for an aggressive war."

    As a result, he said, "the situation on the Korean peninsula this year has reached to the full-scale nuclear showdown and to the brink of war between the DPRK and the U.S."

    Sin's appearance before U.N. journalists was his first since June 15, 2010 when he vehemently denied any North Korean involvement in the sinking of a South Korean navy ship in March 2010 and demanded that military investigators from the North be allowed to go to the site to verify the results of a South Korean probe. It concluded the ship was sunk by a torpedo launched by a North Korean midget submarine.

    The ambassador also answered questions on a number of other issues Friday, saying "we don't have any human rights problems in our country," that recent North Korean talks with China were "very friendly," and that the U.S. should "stop economic sanctions against us."

    ___

    Associated Press Writer Maria Sanminiatelli contributed to this report from the United Nations

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-demands-dissolution-un-command-skorea-160628448.html

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    Stars React on Twitter as James Gandolfini Dies at 51

    A great acting career has ended far too soon. Former Sopranos star James Gandolfini, 51, died on Wednesday while vacationing with his family in Rome, Italy. The cause, according to the New York Daily News, was a "massive heart attack."

    Source: http://www.ivillage.com/james-gandolfini-dies-51-hollywood-mourns-beloved-sopranos-star-twitter/1-a-539576?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Ajames-gandolfini-dies-51-hollywood-mourns-beloved-sopranos-star-twitter-539576

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    Uncle: Patriots player had link to homicide victim

    BOSTON (AP) ? New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez had a connection to a homicide victim found in an industrial park near the athlete's home, but family and officials were mum on the nature of their relationship, two days after police first visited the upscale division.

    The body found about a mile from Hernandez's sprawling home in North Attleborough was that of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd, according to a prosecutor's office. His cause of death wasn't released.

    Lloyd was a semi-pro football player for the Boston Bandits and had a connection to Hernandez, whose home was searched by police, his family said Wednesday.

    Hernandez attorney Michael Fee acknowledged media reports about the state police search of Hernandez's home as part of an investigation but said he and the player wouldn't have any comment on it.

    "My son is a wonderful child," said, Lloyd's mother, Ursula Ward, as she cried outside the family home in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. "He's a family guy. He hasn't done anything to hurt anyone."

    Ward would not say how Lloyd knew Hernandez and did not say if police told her how her son died. An uncle said Lloyd had a connection to Hernandez but wouldn't elaborate.

    North Attleborough sits on the Rhode Island state line not far from the Patriots' stadium in Foxborough. They referred questions about the investigation to the office of Bristol District Attorney Samuel Sutter.

    Sutter's office said investigators were asking for the public's help to find a silver mirror cover believed to have broken off a car between Boston and North Attleborough.

    Sports Illustrated, citing an unidentified source, reported Tuesday that Hernandez was not believed to be a suspect in what was being treated then as a possible homicide.

    Two troopers knocked on the door of Hernandez's house Wednesday morning, but no one answered. The night before, police spent hours there as another group of officers searched the industrial park.

    Later Wednesday, at least seven state troopers searched both sides of a road just off the street where Hernandez lives. The officers used thin poles to pull back plants and search through undergrowth along the road.

    Hernandez returned home during the early afternoon Wednesday. He did not speak to a crowd of reporters staked out about 100 feet away.

    The Patriots drafted Hernandez out of Florida in 2010. Since then, he has combined with Rob Gronkowski to form one of the top tight end duos in the NFL. He missed 10 games last season with an ankle injury and had shoulder surgery in April but is expected to be ready for training camp. Last summer, the Patriots gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

    Patriots spokesman Stacey James said the team did not anticipate commenting publicly during the police investigation.

    Sports Illustrated reported that the link between Hernandez and the case was a rented Chevrolet Suburban with Rhode Island plates that police had been searching for. The Associated Press could not independently confirm the report.

    Lloyd's neighbor Larry Connors said a black Suburban with Rhode Island license plates was towed out of the yard of Lloyd's house after his body was found. Lloyd had been driving it for a few days, but Connors had never seen it before that.

    Neighbor Paul Sandefur, a retired transit police officer, said he had known Lloyd since he was in diapers and was at a loss to explain what might have led to his death.

    "He'd tease me about coming over to play basketball because I used to tell all the kids I could beat them," Sandefur said. "He was an exceptional kid. It's just inconceivable that something would happen to him."

    Both neighbors thought Lloyd worked in construction, and neither knew of any connection between him and Hernandez.

    Bandits coach Olivier Bustin, who last saw Lloyd on Saturday at a team scrimmage and heard on Tuesday he had been killed, said he never knew him to be in trouble.

    "He was a personable guy, just a guy who was well-liked by everybody on the team," said the coach, who said Lloyd didn't start but played a big role on defense.

    Lloyd's sister, Olivia Thibou, said her brother always had her back.

    "And, you know, it's just tough that he's not here," she said. "As my mom said, just give us our time to grieve. And I hope that they find out who did it."

    ___

    Niedowski reported from North Attleborough. Associated Press reporters Mark Pratt and Jay Lindsay in Boston contributed to this report.

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uncle-patriots-player-had-homicide-victim-061316549.html

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    Woody Harrelson launches tree-friendly paper brand

    FILE - In this May 21, 2013 file photo, actor Woody Harrelson attends the "Now You See Me" premiere at AMC Lincoln Square in New York. The 51-year-old actor is the co-founder of Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc., which launched its brand of environmentally friendly paper Wednesday, June 19, 2013. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

    FILE - In this May 21, 2013 file photo, actor Woody Harrelson attends the "Now You See Me" premiere at AMC Lincoln Square in New York. The 51-year-old actor is the co-founder of Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc., which launched its brand of environmentally friendly paper Wednesday, June 19, 2013. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

    FILE - In this May 21, 2013 file photo, actor Woody Harrelson attends the "Now You See Me" premiere at AMC Lincoln Square in New York. The 51-year-old actor is the co-founder of Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc., which launched its brand of environmentally friendly paper Wednesday, June 19, 2013. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

    (AP) ? Woody Harrelson is putting his paper where his passions are.

    The 51-year-old actor is the co-founder of Prairie Pulp & Paper Inc., which launched its brand of environmentally friendly paper Wednesday.

    The company spent 15 years researching and developing its Step Forward Paper. It's made of wheat-straw waste and wood fiber rather than virgin trees.

    The company says replacing two packs of traditional copy paper with their product saves one tree.

    Harrelson says half the world's forests are cut down to make paper, and his company's new paper is "going to be great for our future."

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-06-19-People-Woody%20Harrelson/id-010532f54ce44f1fa9b596388dc58761

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    রবিবার, ১৬ জুন, ২০১৩

    Iran's president-elect says economy will take time

    TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's newly elected reformist-backed president said Sunday that the country's dire economic problems cannot be solved "overnight," as he took his first steps in consulting with members of the clerically dominated establishment on his new policies.

    Hasan Rowhani's surprise victory in Friday's elections puts him in charge of an executive branch that traditionally has taken the lead in handling the economy, while nuclear efforts, defense and foreign affairs remain primarily in the hands of the ruling clerics and their powerful protectors, the Revolutionary Guard.

    This creates a challenge for Rowhani, as Iran suffers from more than 30 percent inflation as well as 14 percent unemployment linked to Western sanctions for Tehran's suspect nuclear program. Rowhani has called for reaching out to the international community but has little authority over the nuclear activities tied to sanctions.

    The semi-official ISNA agency said Rowhani discussed inflation and unemployment as well as possible members of his cabinet with Ali Larijani, speaker for Iran's conservative dominated parliament.

    "Today, we took the first step for cooperation between two branches of power," Rowhani was quoted as saying. Rowhani will take office in August and needs parliament to approve his proposed nominees for 18 ministries.

    Meanwhile, the Revolutionary Guard declared its willingness to cooperate with the president. "We announce our comprehensive readiness for interaction and cooperation with the next administration in the framework of legal duties and assignments," the Guard said on its webpage.

    Later in the day state TV said Rowhani met with the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, for the first time since the election. The report said Khamenei offered "necessary guidelines" to Rowhani but did not elaborate.

    The outward displays of cooperation by Iran's establishment reflect its desire to close the political rift caused by unrest over disputed election results in 2009, and signal to world leaders that the ruling clerics are not publicly standing against Rowhani's call for outreach and dialogue with the international community.

    Iran's stock exchange meanwhile climbed for a second continuous day, jumping 1,194 points to close at 47,460 ? almost a 2.5 percent increase, the exchange's website said. The dollar was trading at 34,600 rials in foreign currency shops, compared to 36,300 rials on Thursday, the eve of the election.

    The rise came after a night of a celebration in Tehran, as the announcement of Rowhani's victory sent tens of thousands of jubilant supporters into the streets. Cars honked and blared music ranging from patriotic songs to Lambada.

    Riot police, who were frequently deployed on Tehran streets in the run-up to Friday's vote, were conspicuous in their absence. State TV showed footage of the celebrations and rebroadcast a speech he made after his victory was announced Saturday, asserting Iran's readiness to improve its ties with the world.

    Also on Sunday, two of Iran's close allies, Syria and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, congratulated Rowhani on his election victory. Tehran backs President Bashar Assad in his struggle against rebels seeking his overthrow, as well as Hezbollah, which recently entered the Syrian civil war in support of the regime.

    Syria's official news agency quoted Assad as saying he plans to increase cooperation between the two countries, especially against "plots of aggression, hegemony, and violation of national sovereignty in our region."

    Hezbollah's website said the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, cabled Rowhani to congratulate him, saying the election had "revived the big hopes of all your friends and brothers of the Arabs, Muslims, and oppressed peoples."

    Elsewhere, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his government expects Iran to do its part to help bring about a swift diplomatic solution to its standoff with the West over its disputed nuclear program.

    In a statement, he also urged Iran to "meet its obligations to protect human rights and to strive to play a constructive role in the region."

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irans-president-elect-says-economy-time-111129547.html

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    ORIGINAL CHARACTERS SKELETON

    Hey guys, here's the skelly! [color=COLOR CODE HERE]Name:[/color]
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    [url=URL LINK HERE]Theme song-Artist[/url]

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    [color=COLOR CODE HERE]Age:[/color]AGE HERE

    [color=COLOR CODE HERE]Gender:[/color]GENDER HERE

    [color=COLOR CODE HERE]Class:[/color] Either Swordsman, Mage, Archer, Warlock, Rogue, Priest, or Citizen

    [color=COLOR CODE HERE]Alignment:[/color]Either Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil, Lawful Neutral, True Neutral, Chaotic Neutral, Lawful Good, Neutral Good, or Chaotic Good.




    [color=COLOR CODE HERE]Physical Description:[/color]PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION HERE

    [color=COLOR CODE HERE]Personality:[/color]PERSONALITY HERE

    [color=COLOR CODE HERE]History:[/color]HISTORY HERE

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    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/_VRzr_FQTfw/viewtopic.php

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    Donaldsonville explosion: With Southern industrial boom come dangers

    Donaldsonville explosion: Chemical plants are safe overall, but where industries are packed closely together, such as in Texas and Louisiana, worries simmer over looming accidents such as the back-to-back explosions in Donaldsonville and Geismar?this week.

    By Patrik Jonsson,?Staff writer / June 15, 2013

    Workers board a bus in Gonzalez, La., on Thursday to return to a chemical plant to retrieve their cars after an explosion occurred there. The explosion ignited a blaze that killed one person and injured dozens of others, authorities said. Another explosion hit a Donaldsonville plant late Friday.

    Gerald Herbert/AP

    Enlarge

    Back-to-back explosions at chemical plants only miles apart along the Mississippi River have given pause to those who live in the shadows of America?s dirtiest industries.

    Skip to next paragraph

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    On Thursday, an explosion at a chemical plant in Geismar, La., owned by Williams Cos. Inc. led to two deaths and injuries ? some serious ? to dozens of others. Then late Friday, another explosion at a chemical plant just a few miles away in Donaldsonville claimed one life and injured eight people after a nitrogen tank exploded during an offload.

    "The incident involved the rupture of an inert nitrogen vessel during the off-loading of nitrogen," a news release from the company, CF Industries, said. "There was no fire or chemical release nor is there any threat or hazard posed to the community."

    Hundreds of industrial plants, many that either produce or consume poisonous and explosive chemicals, line rivers and bayous throughout the South, but in few places as heavily as around New Orleans and the Mississippi River.

    Some 311 chemical manufacturers employing 15,727 people currently exist in the parishes that line the Mississippi from Baton Rouge to its mouth. That number excludes the large numbers of oil refineries and plastics manufacturers in the area.

    To be sure, locals welcome jobs that pay an average of more than $40,000 a year. But explosions like the ones that roiled the river this week remind many of the dangers, both to human life and the environment, such jobs bring.

    The explosions this week are ?an example of what it's like to live along a massive petrochemical corridor," Marylee Orr, executive director of the Baton Rouge-based Louisiana Environmental Action Network, told the Associated Press. "It poses a risk to the workers first and then to the community that lives right along the front line."

    The explosions also highlight a toxic paradox of one of America?s few examples of economic boom as low natural gas prices and welcoming state regulations spur development in areas already dominated by industrial activity.

    The Mississippi River?s span between New Orleans and Baton Rouge ? where the twin explosions occurred Thursday and Friday ? is one example. The other is the petro-corridors hugging the Gulf Coast south of Houston.

    Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/rZy3XJYTsk8/Donaldsonville-explosion-With-Southern-industrial-boom-come-dangers

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    Amber Dusick: Happy Father's Day

    Father's Day is this weekend and Crappy Baby and I were talking about what to do for Crappy Papa.

    I always ask the kids their ideas for stuff like this. They'll come up with something easy like cupcakes with "Papa" written on them. We'll make the cupcakes and then I'll present them with the explanation, "The kids wanted to make you cupcakes, it was their idea." And because it was their idea he'll feel all warm and fuzzy and he can't complain that all he got for Father's Day was another batch of cupcakes because it was their idea.

    You see my motive? Having them come up with something takes all the pressure off. Besides, it is Father's Day. Not Husband's Day. The kids should be doing the heavy lifting in the ideas department.

    So I ask Crappy Baby:

    2013-06-14-fathersday1.gif


    No? How could this be? He always has ideas.

    Maybe I have to rephrase the question.

    2013-06-14-fathersday2.gif

    No again?

    2013-06-14-fathersday3.gif

    Dang. He isn't helping.

    I know, I'll help him brainstorm!

    I'll ask him a few questions about Papa's life and interests and that will hopefully spark an idea for Father's Day.

    And here is a tiny snippet of the actual conversation complete with some crappy animation:


    Happy Father's Day from Crappy Pictures!

    Happy Father's Day!

    Does your Father's Day celebration involve food?

    -------

    Nope, Crappy Papa is not a chef. He does cook though. And eat.

    Yes, for Father's Day this year his celebration will be mostly everything food. It was their idea.

    For a slightly more mushy gushy Father's Day post, read mine from two years ago, Why My Husband Deserves Father's Day.

    This story was originally published on CrappyPictures.com.

    ?

    ?

    ?

    Follow Amber Dusick on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AmberDusick

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    Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amber-dusick/happy-fathers-day-illustrated-with-crappy-pictures_b_3443958.html

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    Pope taps trusted prelate to oversee Vatican bank

    VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis took a first big step in reforming the troubled Vatican bank on Saturday by tapping a trusted prelate to help oversee its management, in a sign he wants to know more about its activities.

    Francis signed off on naming Monsignor Battista Ricca as interim prelate of the Institute for Religious Works.

    It's a key job that has been left vacant since 2011: The prelate oversees the bank's activities, attends its board meetings and, critically, has access to all its documentation. The prelate reports to the commission of cardinals who run the bank and is currently headed by the Vatican No. 2. That gives Ricca a near-direct line to the pope, serving as a bridge between the bank's lay managers and board members and its cardinal leadership.

    Ricca is currently director of the Vatican hotel where Francis lives and other Vatican-owned residential institutes for clergy.

    Technically the appointment was made by the bank's five-member commission of cardinals, headed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state. But the Vatican statement announcing the appointment made clear Francis had approved it, an indication that it was something Francis either initiated himself or strongly supported.

    The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the interim nature of the appointment was a sign that Francis is still mulling how to reform the Vatican bureaucracy as a whole ? one of the major priorities set out by the cardinals who elected him pope in March.

    Right before resigning, Benedict XVI named German aristocrat and financier Ernst von Freyberg as IOR president, filling a vacancy that had been left open for nine months following the remarkable ouster of Italian banker Ettore Gotti Tedeschi for alleged incompetence. Von Freyberg has said the bank's main problem is its reputation, not any operational shortcomings.

    The Council of Europe's Moneyval committee, however, says otherwise. The committee, which helps member countries comply with international norms to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, gave the Vatican bank several poor or failing grades in its inaugural evaluation last year.

    While praising the Vatican as a whole for making progress quickly, Moneyval said the bank's rules for customer due diligence, wire transfers and suspicious transaction reporting were insufficient. It said the bank needed an independent supervisor and must conduct a thorough risk assessment to ensure that it knew its clients and the risks it faces.

    Vatican officials have recently revealed that six such transactions were flagged last year and another seven so far in 2013.

    But the customer checks are only now getting underway, even though the Vatican pledged to Moneyval that they would be completed by December 2012. Von Freyberg has said they would be completed by the end of July.

    The Vatican must submit a progress report to Moneyval in November.

    The Vatican opened itself to the Moneyval evaluation process after signing a new European Union monetary agreement in 2009. Its aim is to shed the bank's image as a secretive tax haven and improve its reputation in global financial circles following a series of scandals, including a money-laundering investigation launched by Rome prosecutors in 2010.

    In an interview this week, von Freyberg said his aim was to make the bank's activities more transparent, by publishing its annual report online on Oct. 1. He has hired a leading firm in the fight against money laundering, Promontory Group, to go over the bank's client base, a top-notch international law firm to review the bank's legal framework, and a fancy German public relations agency to help revamp the bank's image.

    "I cannot comment on the past," von Freyberg said. "I am here now to take things in hand and we are doing this with great effort."

    He said he had some of his own ideas about bank reform, but that the cardinals were the top decision-makers and that the mission of the IOR remained the same.

    The Vatican bank was founded in 1942 by Pope Pius XII to manage assets destined for religious or charitable works. Located in a tower just inside the gates of Vatican City, it also manages the pension system for the Vatican's thousands of employees.

    The bank is not open to the public; its 19,000 clients include Holy See personnel, religious orders, prelates and diplomats accredited to the Holy See.

    The Vatican bank's finances have long been shrouded in secrecy. Most famously, it was implicated in a scandal over the collapse of Italy's Banco Ambrosiano in the 1980s in one of Italy's largest fraud cases. Roberto Calvi, the head of Banco Ambrosiano, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in circumstances that remain mysterious.

    Banco Ambrosiano collapsed following the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans the bank had made to several dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters of credit for the loans.

    While denying any wrongdoing, the Vatican bank agreed to pay $250 million to Ambrosiano's creditors.

    In the 2010 money laundering case, Italian financial police seized euro23 million and Rome prosecutors placed the IOR's then-president, Gotti Tedeschi, and general director Paolo Cipriani under investigation for alleged violations of Italy's anti-money laundering norms in conducting a routine transaction from an IOR account at an Italian bank. The money was eventually unfrozen. The men technically remain under investigation but nearly three years on, haven't been charged.

    But that isn't the only problem facing the IOR. Last year, under pressure from the Bank of Italy, JPMorgan closed its IOR accounts. And in December, again under pressure from the Bank of Italy, Deutsche Bank Italia halted its 15-year term providing electronic payment services to the Vatican, leaving the tiny city state cash-only. E-commerce operations only resumed at the end of May and still aren't fully operational, even though the Vatican announced in Februrary the problem had been resolved, The Associated Press reported earlier this week.

    _____

    Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-taps-trusted-prelate-oversee-110932832.html

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