Internet most popular information source: poll

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The Internet is by far the most popular source of information and the preferred choice for news ahead of television, newspapers and radio, according to a new poll in the United States.
But just a small fraction of U.S. adults considered social websites such as Facebook and MySpace as a good source of news and even fewer would opt for Twitter.
More than half of the people questioned in the Zogby Interactive survey said they would select the Internet if they had to choose only one source of news, followed by 21 percent for television and 10 percent for both newspapers and radio.
Only 10 percent described social websites as an important for news, and despite the media buzz about Twitter, only 4 percent would go to it for information.
The Internet was also selected as the most reliable source of news by nearly 40 percent of adults, compared to 17 percent who opted for television and 16 percent who selected newspapers and 13 percent for listened to the radio.
"The poll reinforces the idea that efforts by established newspapers, television and radio news outlets to push their consumers to their respective websites is working," Zogby said in a statement.
Almost half of 3,030 adults questioned in the online survey said national newspaper websites were important to them, followed by 43 percent who preferred television websites.
Blogs were less of a necessity than websites with only 28 percent of those polled saying blogs that shared their political viewpoint were important.
"That the websites of traditional news outlets are seen by a wide margin as more important than blog sites - most of which are repositories of opinion devoid of actual reportage - could be seen as an encouraging development for the media at large," Zogby added.
When asked to peer into the future, an overwhelming 82 percent said the Internet would be the main source of information in five years time, compared to 13 for television and 0.5 percent chose newspapers.
About 84 percent of American have access to the Internet, according to industry studies.

Source: Reuters

Vatican warns traditionalists not to ordain priests

By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican warned a rebel ultra-traditionalist order on Wednesday not to go ahead with plans to ordain new priests this month, saying the move could incur disciplinary action.
The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), in the headlines for having a Holocaust denier as one of its four bishops readmitted to the Roman Catholic Church, plans to ordain 21 new priests in three countries on June 19 and 27.
A statement said that if the ordinations go ahead "they are still to be considered illegitimate" despite an uneasy rapprochement under way between the SSPX and the Vatican.
It cited a letter by Pope Benedict in March in which he explained his decision to lift the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops and start a dialogue aimed at full re-integration of the rebels.
But the statement said disciplinary questions regarding the SSPX "remained open," a clear warning that if the ordinations were ahead they would have repercussions on negotiations to bring the traditionalists fully back into the Church.
The SSPX plans to hold the ordination of the traditionalist priests in Germany, Switzerland and the United States.
Father Yves Le Roux, rector of the SSPX's St Thomas Aquinas seminary in Winona, Minnesota, said the ordination of 13 new priests would go ahead despite the Vatican warning.
"Absolutely. We are doing it," he told Reuters by telephone. "This is something the Vatican feels it has to say. It's a political statement but the reality is totally different."
CONCESSIONS
Catholic bishops had urged the Vatican to warn the SSPX not to go through with the ordinations, a plan seen as the SSPX's latest attempt to challenge Vatican authority.
The Vatican has made several concessions to the SSPX, the biggest being the lifting in January of the 1988 excommunications of its four bishops.
This meant they were back in good standing as Catholics, but they had no official function as bishops and therefore should not use their Episcopal privileges without Vatican permission.
The Pope prompted international outrage when he lifted the excommunication of Richard Williamson and three other bishops to try to heal a 20-year-old rift that began when they were thrown out of the Church for being ordained without the permission of Pope John Paul II.
Williamson had said in an interview he believed there were no gas chambers and that no more than 300,000 Jews perished in Nazi concentration camps, rather than the 6 million accepted by most historians.
His comments and the pope's decision to lift the excommunication caused a deep rift in Catholic-Jewish relations.
In his March letter the pope said his aim in starting procedures to readmit the SSPX was to bring good people back into the fold, while adding that some of its members act with "arrogance and presumptuousness."

Source: Reuters

China, Taiwan eye each other through film as ties warm

By Ralph Jennings
TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) - The Chinese comedy "If You Are the One" has earned $50 million at the box office so far, the second highest grossing in China's film history, but it's showing for free this week in ethnically Chinese Taiwan.
Taiwan and China have been separated for decades over political friction but as relations improve under Taiwan's Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou, each side is suddenly scoping out the other's films this summer to learn a bit more.
"Some China films show modern life while some are shot way out in the countryside, so lots of angles and the Taiwan audience can get to know China better," said Ma Kuo-chun, project manager with the private Chinese Cross-Strait Film Association in Taipei.
"But there's still no formal platform for showing films."
The association, backed by Taiwan government money, will test reactions by holding its first annual China film festival this week, offering seven movies and the chance to see three Chinese directors for about 4,000 people. Tickets are free.
"I would welcome this chance as we get closer politically," said Chang Tung-yuan, a film student at Shih Hsin University in Taiwan. "At least our films are in the same language."
The festival headliner "If You Are the One," from director Feng Xiaogang, reveals quirks in China's social modernization, a trend lost on many in Taiwan, by following a middle-aged man seeking love but too picky to tolerate even a hint of incompatibility.
Chinese directors made 406 films in 2008, setting a record, with urban box office revenues worth hundreds of millions of dollars, state-run media in Beijing have reported.
Feng suggested at a packed pre-festival conference in Taipei on Wednesday that the two sides sign a film pact. "I wonder if we could appeal to Taiwan...to let mainland China help," he said.
Studios from Taiwan, where the government often puts up seed money for arthouse-style releases that turn off local Hollywood-fixated audiences, released only 36 movies last year, generating $9.3 million in box office income.
In the same year, 382 films from overseas showed locally and generated total revenues of $67 million.
Chinese movies have gone mainstream recently, covering battles and historical scandals, after decades of three-hour-long dramas or releases that follow the Communist line.
Next week a Taiwan film festival, starring director Yang Ya-che's 2008 drama "Orz Boys," which looks at the darker side of growing up in Taipei, will take place in the Chinese cities of Beijing and Tianjin.
Chinese viewers often see Taiwan entertainment as more fashionable and less politically restricted than their own.
China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT) fled to Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Paris voted world's best city "brand," Sydney runner-up

By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - Sydney was voted the city with the friendliest people, the best quality of life, climate and views in a global survey, but was beaten to the top spot by Paris, which was seen as being more interesting.
The 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands IndexSM (CBI), based on a survey of some 10,000 people across 20 countries, likens cities to "brands" and measures consumer perception of the image and reputation of 50 major cities worldwide.
Paris ranks as the top overall city brand, followed by Sydney, London, Rome and New York.
"The index measures the world's perception of each city, which influences people's choices on where to live, work and vacation," CBI founder Simon Anholt said in a statement.
"Particularly in the face of today's uncertain economic climate, it's vital to understand the forces and opinions that drive business toward and away from these cities."
Respondents were asked to rank the 50 cities according to six categories that include "presence" or knowledge of the city and its global contribution; "place" or cleanliness and climate; "pulse" or interesting lifestyles and "potential" or perception as good place to do business, to find a job and go to school.
"While Sydney lands in first place in three of the six categories, it is Paris' big lead over Sydney in the Presence and Pulse dimensions that push it into the top position overall," said Xiaoyan Zhao, director of the CBI study at GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media.
"Similarly, there are cities with notable strengths in some areas but are pulled down by their poor showings in others."
London, in the number 3 spot overall, was the best-known city and the one most people see as having business opportunities.
Cities that came at the bottom of the survey included the Saudi port city of Jeddah, which was voted as the least-known, India's Mumbai, which was not seen as being very clean while Cairo, Egypt, was voted as having some of the world's unfriendliest people.
Following is the list of the top 10 cities from the global survey: 1. Paris 2. Sydney 3. London 4. Rome 5. New York 6. Barcelona 7. San Francisco 8. Los Angeles 9. Vienna 10. Madrid
(Editing by Sugita Katyal)

Source: Reuters

Chinese designer takes fashion to the dogs

By Max Duncan
BEIJING (Reuters Life!) - Who says fashion is only for the catwalk? A Chinese designer is creating trendy tracksuits and elegant evening gowns for dogs, turning her passion for canines and couture into a booming business.
Hu Xi, who studied fashion design, is not China's only pet fashion designer, but she is one of the longest lasting in the niche business, with the studio she first set up at home in 2000 still going strong some nine years later.
Hu's six dogs get first pick of her tailored outfits that range from simple jackets to hand-stitched wedding dresses.
But demand from clients in China and abroad has prompted her to open a small factory in Beijing's suburbs.
"From a young age I liked making things by hand, and my mum bought me lots of Barbie dolls and I would make them all sorts of dresses and other clothes," Hu, 27, told Reuters.
"On my 10th birthday my mum gave me a little dog, and from that day on I would dress her up. It was great fun."
Pet ownership in China has ballooned in recent years, in stark contrast to the days when late Chinese leader Mao Zedong banned raising dogs as a bourgeois pastime. Keeping dogs was only made legal a few years ago as living standards rose.
Animal rights groups have also criticized China for cruelty, saying millions of animals, including cats and dogs, are raised for their pelts and inhumanely killed. China, where many people eat dog, is considering its first animal welfare law.
Most of Hu's customers come looking for outfits to keep their pets warm in the harsh Beijing winter, but many others order evening wear and outfits for special events: Hu says she once made wedding dresses for a rabbit and a chinchilla.
It takes about an hour to make a simple jacket or dress, which sells for 60 yuan ($9) while a more complex outfit can take up to three days to make and can sell for over $100, roughly half the monthly wage of a construction worker in the city.
Hu estimates that she has sold between 10,000 and 20,000 items since she opened her studio. In winter, when demand is higher, Hu makes around 10,000 yuan ($1,460) a month, an enviable wage for most Beijing residents.
But money has never been Hu's motivation. She says making dogs look -- and feel -- good is what's important.
"When my dogs go out they always wear shoes and they change clothes every day. When we go out and everyone crowds around to look at them, they feel like the most beautiful dogs and think they're too good for everyone else," Hu said.
Hu's designs are inspired by everything from traditional Chinese clothing to Western pop culture and children's cartoons. In addition to the evening wear and flowery frocks, there are police uniforms with handcuffs and superhero costumes.
And while wearing clothes may not make every dog's day, one of Hu's regular customers says it does wonders for their appeal. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Book Talk: Kamila Shamsie's nuclear obsession underlies epic

By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - The September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 anchor acclaimed Pakistani-born author Kamila Shamsie's epic novel -- a love story that also explores how mass killings are justified in terms of self-defense.
At almost 400 pages, "Burned Shadows," published in May, starts with the story of Hiroko Tanaka, a Japanese resident of Nagasaki whose world changes on August 9, 1945 -- her back is marked by burns shaped like the birds patterning the kimono she was wearing when the bomb dropped.
It ends some half a century later on the other side of the world, after journeying through British-administered India and Afghanistan, at a U.S. prison cell where a man suspected of terrorism is waiting to be sent to the infamous Guantanamo jail.
The book is London-based Shamsie's fifth novel, and a departure from her earlier, award-winning works such as "Salt and Saffron," "Broken Verses" and "Kartography" which have centered around her hometown Karachi.
The author who was long-listed for the Orange Prize for fiction spoke to Reuters recently about writing and the bomb:
Q: What inspired you to write such an ambitious book?
A: "I didn't know I was going to write an epic when I first started. I started around 2005 and went through until 2007. The original idea was that it was going to be a very short early section in Nagasaki and then the novel would be set in contemporary times and would very much be about India and Pakistan and the whole nuclear standoff.
But as soon as I started writing the Nagasaki bit, I became very interested in the character of Hiroko, and wanted to know what happens to her. I found I had written myself into a novel that was completely different than what I had started out to do."
Q: What interests you so much about the nuclear issue?
A: "The bombing of Nagasaki was something that burned a hole in my imagination and you can connect that to the fact that India and Pakistan have revived the whole fear of nuclear bombs. My interest intensified after both nations' nuclear tests.
When I was at university, I went to a lecture and someone was talking about certain aspects of foreign policy. I don't remember who he was, but I remember the person said 'If you can justify Hiroshima, but how can you justify Nagasaki three days later?'
This was around the same time that I had read documents that showed the Americans had probably known that Japan was likely to surrender without the bombings. These became little things that attached themselves to my head. And then I kept noticing that there was a lot of talk about Hiroshima, but Nagasaki, the question of how could you do it again, was rarely looked at."
Q: You describe your book as a love story, but it's also got a very political message.
A: "Nagasaki to me became a symbol of what nations are willing to applaud during wartime. (Former U.S. president Harry) Truman is remembered as a great president because, among other things, he had the guts to drop the bomb. One of the justifications was yes, it was terrible, but it saved American lives. This is not a particularly American way of thinking either. Everything is justified if it saves the lives of your people, regardless of how many people from other countries are killed.
"It started me thinking: what can you justify in terms of self-defense? The war on terror? Afghanistan? What the British did in India during the Raj?" Continued...
Source: Reuters

Florida tent city offers hope to homeless

By Robert Green
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - A Florida tent city for hundreds of homeless people lies at the end of a dead-end street, but residents say they have not given up hope of a better life despite the U.S. economic downturn.
The Pinellas Hope camp, 250 single-person tents in neat rows on land owned by the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg in a wooded area north of the city, has room for about 270 and has been filled to capacity since it opened two years ago.
"I could open the gates and have over 500 people," said Sheila Lopez, the chief operating officer for Catholic Charities at the St. Petersburg diocese.
The camp has a food hall, bathrooms and showers, a laundry room and a few computers for residents to look for jobs and prepare resumes.
"This is a great place to be. It gives us a great opportunity," said Alex, a resident who declined to give his last name. "We have a safe place to live. It sure beats sleeping on the street."
The number of homeless people in the United States, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, is difficult to pin down, advocacy groups say, because most people are homeless for only a short period of time.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates about 675,000 people are homeless on any given night during a one-month period. Between 2.5 million and 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness for at least one night in a year.
The alliance said it expects more than 1 million people to become homeless as a result of the current recession.
THE END IS NOT NEAR
Tent cities have sprouted across the United States and advocates believe they could represent the leading edge of a wave of homelessness in the coming months as U.S. unemployment, nearing 10 percent, rises.
"I don't think we've begun to see the end of it. I think the challenges remain significant and they remain in front of us," said Ron Book, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, where calls to a homeless hotline have quadrupled in the last year.
Florida, where unemployment has soared as the recession put out of work thousands of people employed on construction sites during the housing boom, has nearly 50,000 homeless, according to the alliance. Nearly 6,500 of those are in the Tampa area.
Asked about the proliferation of tent cities at a news conference in March, U.S. President Barack Obama said it was "not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours."
He cited his jobs programs and spending on infrastructure as ways of combating the problem.
In some places, tent cities are discouraged. In Seattle, for example, authorities arrested and moved homeless people from a tent encampment -- called Nickelsville as a protest of Mayor Greg Nickels' policies -- on city land last fall. Some of those people have recently returned. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Gay activists wary about flamboyant "Bruno"

By Alex Dobuzinskis
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. gay activists are worried that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's new film, "Bruno," could reinforce negative stereotypes about homosexuals just as they are making gains in the fight for rights such as same-sex marriage.
Cohen, who scored a surprise hit in 2006 with "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," portrays a flamboyant gay Austrian fashion reporter in the new film that premieres on Wednesday in London and opens in the United States on July 10.
The studio releasing "Bruno" says the film's intent is to satirize homophobia, but some gay advocates are wary.
"We do feel the intentions of the filmmakers are in the right place -- satire of this form can unmask homophobia -- but at the same time it can heighten people's discomfort with our community," said Rashad Robinson, senior director of media programs for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
With that in mind, GLAAD asked in vain for Universal Pictures, the studio behind "Bruno," to add a message from Cohen addressing the importance of gay rights and tolerance.
Universal says in a statement it believes most moviegoers will understand the film's "positive intentions."
"'Bruno' uses provocative comedy to powerfully shed light on the absurdity of many kinds of intolerance and ignorance, including homophobia," the studio said.
The movie comes out as U.S. same-sex couples have won the right to wed in six states amid a fierce debate on gay marriage that has seen California voters approve a ban on such marriages.
HIT? OR MISS
"Bruno" is expected to be a hit, although there remains a big question about whether the young men who make up a core Hollywood audience will turn out for a movie about a gay man.
"It's going to be interesting to see if a bunch of teenage boys actually care to go", said gay activist Cathy Renna.
But one thing is certain -- Cohen has a huge fan base. Men and women flocked to "Borat," a fake documentary about a Kazakh journalist traveling across the United States that used comedy to expose bigotry. It earned $128 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices and $133 million in other countries.
Like its predecessor, "Bruno" is a mock documentary that covers the fashion reporter after he loses his job in Austria and goes to America looking to become a celebrity. Bruno wears mesh shirts, talks with a lisp and has a penchant for dropping his pants.
His unscripted encounters with everyday Americans and prominent figures, who think he is real, often devolve into people's disgusted reaction to Bruno's in-your-face sexuality.
In one scene, for instance, a martial arts teacher shows Bruno how to guard against gays. GLAAD's Robinson said another scene worried him that shows Bruno appearing to have sex with a man in a tub, while his adopted baby sits nearby. Continued...
Source: Reuters

First lady's inaugural outfit in New York exhibit

By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - The ensemble worn by Michelle Obama on Inauguration Day goes on display on Wednesday, allowing the public a first close-up look at the design that helped earn the first lady praise for her fashion sense.
The sheath dress and matching coat appear in a retrospective of designs by Cuban-born Isabel Toledo, who held her first show in 1985 but was largely unknown outside the fashion world until Obama wore the outfit on January 20, 2009.
"This is now one of the most famous dresses in the world," said Valerie Steele, chief curator at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, which is hosting the exhibit. "It's become a piece of history."
"Even people who have little or no interest in fashion will be really interested to see this," Steele said.
The wife of President Barack Obama has won acclaim for her fashion style, particularly for mixing high- and low-end pieces and choosing little-known designers over industry stalwarts.
Even her choice of colors -- the Toledo dress is a muted yellow "lemongrass" -- is distinctive compared with most first ladies who largely wore red and blue, experts note.
"She's been able to balance a very precarious thing," said Patricia Mears, the FIT museum's deputy director. "On the one hand she has to look like a first lady. You've got to have a conservative but also powerful presence. At the same time I think she has very much understood she is a pioneer."
Obama's influence was noted at the annual awards festivities held on Monday by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, which gave her a special tribute.
"Her meteoric rise in the world of fashion has echoed her husband in the world of politics," said Diane von Furstenberg, the council's president.
Obama, by means of a taped message, responded by saying: "On behalf of women everywhere, I want to thank you for making fashion liberating, inspiring, but most of all, fun."
The Toledo ensemble is on loan for the exhibit and is slated to become part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian. Obama matched the outfit with shoes by Jimmy Choo, a pricey line, and gloves by the more affordable J.Crew.
"It proves good design can be had at all price points," said Mears. "She can still look chic, but so can everybody else. I think it's a wonderful statement to make."
Having her design chosen by the first lady was the thrill of a lifetime, said Toledo.
"You don't have to be a big corporation in America," said Toledo. "Here I am. It's the American dream."
The exhibit, which includes an array of her designs, many with fluid draping, intricate ruching and sculpted silhouettes, runs through September 26, 2009.
(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Patricia Reaney)

Source: Reuters

U.S. says financial crisis adds to human trafficking

By Deborah Charles
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Millions of people around the world are living in bondage and the global financial crisis has made many more vulnerable to labor and sex trafficking, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday.
In its annual "Trafficking in Persons" report, which tracks "modern slavery" like forced labor and the sex trade, the State Department said growing poverty around the world has sparked an increase in both supply and demand for human trafficking.
"In a time of economic crisis, victims are more vulnerable, affected communities are more vulnerable," Luis de Baca said as he presented the report.
"Persons who are under economic stress are more likely to fall prey to the wiles of the traffickers who often get their victims through promises of a better life, promises of better earnings," he said.
De Baca said human trafficking can be valued at about $50 billion a year. That includes about $31 billion profit earned by the traffickers plus about $20 billion in opportunity cost from lost labor of the people who are put into bondage.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged governments to work to eliminate forms of human trafficking.
"This year, there is a new urgency in this call," she wrote in a letter prefacing the report.
"As the ongoing financial crisis takes an increasing toll on many of the world's migrants -- who often risk everything for the slim hope of a better future for their families -- too often they are ensnared by traffickers who exploit their desperation."
"We recognize their immense suffering and we commit to aiding their rescue and recovery."
The State Department expanded a blacklist of governments it believes are not doing enough to stop human trafficking to 17, out of 175 countries it monitors in the annual report.
Chad, Malaysia, Niger, Mauritania and Zimbabwe were included among the worst offenders -- putting them at risk of losing some U.S. aid.
Cuba, Myanmar and North Korea have received the lowest ranking in each year they have been included in the report started nine years ago.
The lowest ranking means the United States could withhold aid that is not humanitarian or trade-related.
According to the International Labor Organization about 12.3 million adults and children are in forced labor and sexual servitude at any time in the world. Nearly 1.4 million of those are victims of sex trafficking, ILO figures show.
"They labor in fields and factories, under brutal employers who threaten them with violence if they try to escape," Clinton said at an event to present the report. "They work in homes for families that keep them virtually imprisoned. they are forced to work as prostitutes or to beg in the streets, fearful of the consequences if they fail to earn their daily quota."
"This is modern slavery," she said. "A crime that spans the globe, providing ruthless employers with an endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain."

Source: Reuters