Lockean David House
Various Artists - From Dusk Till Dawn (OST)
2 hours ago
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
Iranian actress to be lashed over Australian film
An Iranian actress has been sentenced to 90 lashes and a year's jail in Tehran for her role in an Australian-produced film that criticises Iran's hardline policies on the arts.
Marzieh Vafamehr appeared in 2009's My Tehran For Sale, which was shot in the Iranian capital and tells the story of a young actress whose stage work is banned by the authorities.The feature premiered at the Adelaide Film Festival two years ago, but is banned in Iran.
The actress and another Iranian filmmaker were both arrested in July when black market copies of the film reportedly began circulating illegally.
Vafamehr has now been sentenced to a year in prison and 90 lashes of the cane.
An Iranian opposition website says her lawyer has already lodged an appeal.
Adelaide Film Festival director Katrina Sedgwick says she is shocked and distressed at what she believes is a harsh sentence.
However she admits the content of the movie is sensitive.
"There is always somewhat of a risk for filmmakers in that country when they're exploring ideas that are complex and even quite subtly political," she said.
"It certainly makes one very aware of the amazing freedom that we have and the rights that we have in Australia, and we can never take them for granted.
"It also reminds one of the amazing courage of artists around the world working in places where they do take risks."
The Australian Iranian Community says Vafamehr's imprisonment is a bid by Tehran to suppress freedom of expression.
Community chairman Siyamak Ghahreman says he was surprised to learn of the sentence, given the film was made legally.
"Sometimes they do that to stop other people or other filmmakers [making] movies about Iranian problems. So by doing this they probably prevent other people do this," he said.
Anne Barker @'ABC'
Several German states admit to use of controversial spy software
The interior ministers of the states of Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony said that regional police had used the software within the parameters of the law. In Lower Saxony, the software has been in use for two years, according to the public broadcaster NDR.
Authorities in Brandenburg, meanwhile, told the daily Berliner Morgenpost that they are currently using the spyware in a single, on-going investigation. Baden-Württemberg has also used such software to investigate "individual cases," according to the Badische Zeitung.
Officials in the southern German state of Bavaria were the first to confirm late Monday that their agencies have been using a spyware program since 2009. It remains unclear whether all four states had been using the same software or not.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said in a statement that they had acted within the law, and he promised a review of the software's use. Computer security experts and German politicians say such software is likely in violation of the German constitution.
A hacker group accused the German government on Saturday of developing and using the software to spy on its own citizens. Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger called on the federal and state governments to launch a joint investigation into the matter.
"Trying to play down or trivialize the matter won't do," said Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger while at the same time warning against blanket judgments. "The citizen, in both the public and private spheres, must be protected from snooping through strict state control mechanisms."
Germany's Interior Ministry said Monday no such program was being used at a federal level...
Continue reading
Sonya Angelica Diehn, Joanna Impey & Spencer Kimball @'Deutsche Welle'
Germany spyware: Minister calls for probe of state use
The View from North Korea
Unprecedented demos are taking place in the United States these days in protest against exploitation and oppression by capital, shaking all fabrics of society.
The first demo kicked off in Wall Street on Sept. 17. It has been going on for three consecutive weeks.
The demonstrators put up slogan "Let's Occupy Wall Street".
Young Americans formed a mainstream of the ranks of demonstrators at first. But they were joined by people from all walks of life who varied in their ages including day laborers, poor and unemployed Americans as well as employees of companies and housewives.
Their actions included marches, sit-in strikes, occupation of bridges and various other forms of protests and non-stop protests at night.
These actions spilled over to different parts of the U.S. including Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco all of a sudden.
It was reported that organizations were inaugurated in 146 cities of 46 states and the capital city as of Tuesday to supervise demos.
The waves of demo which swept the U.S. recently is an expression of the grievances against the mounting social contradiction resulting from the worsening unemployment and the widening gap between the poor and the rich due to the serious economic crisis.
It also reflects the public opinion critical of the authorities and the exploiting classes who drove the country into such serious phase.
Foreign media predict that demos will go on and spill over to large-scale protests and create something unprecedented in the future.
Such protests as what is happening in the U.S. are expected to take place in other capitalist countries.
It was reported that slogan "Let's Occupy Melbourne!" has already appeared in Australia and "Let's Occupy Toronto Stock Market!" in Canada and organizations were formed in Japan, Germany and other countries to stage demos under the slogan "Let's Occupy!
Via
The first demo kicked off in Wall Street on Sept. 17. It has been going on for three consecutive weeks.
The demonstrators put up slogan "Let's Occupy Wall Street".
Young Americans formed a mainstream of the ranks of demonstrators at first. But they were joined by people from all walks of life who varied in their ages including day laborers, poor and unemployed Americans as well as employees of companies and housewives.
Their actions included marches, sit-in strikes, occupation of bridges and various other forms of protests and non-stop protests at night.
These actions spilled over to different parts of the U.S. including Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco all of a sudden.
It was reported that organizations were inaugurated in 146 cities of 46 states and the capital city as of Tuesday to supervise demos.
The waves of demo which swept the U.S. recently is an expression of the grievances against the mounting social contradiction resulting from the worsening unemployment and the widening gap between the poor and the rich due to the serious economic crisis.
It also reflects the public opinion critical of the authorities and the exploiting classes who drove the country into such serious phase.
Foreign media predict that demos will go on and spill over to large-scale protests and create something unprecedented in the future.
Such protests as what is happening in the U.S. are expected to take place in other capitalist countries.
It was reported that slogan "Let's Occupy Melbourne!" has already appeared in Australia and "Let's Occupy Toronto Stock Market!" in Canada and organizations were formed in Japan, Germany and other countries to stage demos under the slogan "Let's Occupy!
Via
mikko Mikko Hypponen
Wow. Here's the #ISSWorld presentation file of Digitask, explaining how the R2D2 / #0zapftis Governmental trojan works: bit.ly/omtsKQ
WillLynch WillLynch
Leaked internal Citibank report: 'The World is dividing into two blocs-The Plutonomy and the rest' box.net/shared/9if6v2h…
Climate Change and the End of Australia
Want to know what global warming has in store for us? Just go to Australia, where rivers are drying up, reefs are dying, and fires and floods are ravaging the continent
HERE
...and yet still there are fugtards out here who say there is no proof of global warming...
Luke Davies: Interferon Psalms
Luke Davies is best known as the novelist and then screenwriter behind Candy, the harrowing tale of suburban heroin addiction that dazzled literary and film critics alike. But well before that, Davies was an accomplished poet. His previous collections of poetry include Absolute Event Horizon, Running With Light and Totem, which won the 2005 South Australian Premier's Literary Award for Poetry, the Grace Leven Prize for Poetry 2004, the Age's Poetry Book of the Year Award and the overall Age Book of the Year Award.
Interferon Psalms is his latest book of poems and is described as the 'shadow companion' of the upbeat, optimistic Totem. Loneliness and pain, both physical and emotional, are among its themes, and the poet often invokes the language of religious liturgy to address them. But although it explores complex and serious issues, there are plenty of playful moments.
listen now
download audio
@'ABC'
#OccupyBoston (Livestream)
GregMitch Greg Mitchell
Crackdowns coming in Atlanta and Boston? Tweets say reporters in latter asked to leave for "safety" (i.e. not be there to report?).
Crackdowns coming in Atlanta and Boston? Tweets say reporters in latter asked to leave for "safety" (i.e. not be there to report?).
Occupy_Boston Occupy Boston
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