Author: Ohart

When it comes to predicting the winners in World Cup matches, the carnivores are out for blood. Sadie Witkowski explains.
…

As gigabytes of data flow from field to fingertips, click by click, the technological divide has been closing between teams at the World Cup.

While the focus has been on the debut of video assistant referees, less obvious technical advances have been at work in Russia and the coaches have control over this area, at least. 

No longer are the flashiest gizmos to trace player movements and gather data the preserve of the best-resourced nations. All World Cup finalists have had an array of electronic performance and tracking systems made available to them by FIFA.

“We pay great attention to these tools,” Poland coach Adam Nawalka said. “Statistics play an important role for us. We analyze our strength and weaknesses.”

The enhanced tech at the teams’ disposal came after football’s law-making body — on the same day in March it approved VAR — approved the use of hand-held electronic and communications equipment in the technical area for tactical and coaching purposes. That allows live conversations between the coaches on the bench and analysts in the stands, a change from the 2014 World Cup when the information gathered from player and ball tracking systems couldn’t be transmitted in real-time from the tribune.

“It’s the first time that they can communicate during the match,” FIFA head of technology Johannes Holzmueller told The Associated Press. “We provide the basic and most important metrics to the teams to be analyzed at the analysis desk. There they have the opportunity either to use the equipment provided by FIFA or that they use their own.”

The KPI — key performance indicators — fed by tracking cameras and satellites provide another perspective when coaches make judgments on substitutions or tactical switches if gaps exposed on the field are identified.

“These tools are very practical, they give us analysis, it’s very positive,” Colombia coach Jose Pekerman said. “They provide us with insight. They complement the tools we already have. It improves our work as coaches, and it will help footballers too. I think technologies are a very positive thing.”

 It’s not just about success in games. Player welfare can be enhanced with high-tech tools to assess injuries in real time allowed for use by medics at this World Cup. Footage of incidents can now be evaluated to supplement any on-field diagnosis, particularly concussion cases.

A second medic “can review very clearly, very concretely what happened on the field, what the doctor sitting on the bench perhaps could not see,” FIFA medical committee chairman Michel D’Hooghe said.

Pekerman is pleased “football is advancing very quickly.” Too quickly, though, for some coaches who are more resistant to the growing role for machines rather than the mind. 

“Football is evolving and these tools help us on the tactical and physiological side,” Senegal coach Senegal coach Aliou Cisse said. “We do look at it with my staff, but it doesn’t really have an impact on my decision making.”

Hernan Dario Gomez, coach of World Cup newcomer Panama, has reviewed the data feeds. But ultimately the team has been eliminated in the group stage after facing superior opponents.

“This is obviously very important information, but not more important than the actual players,” Gomez said. “We think first and foremost about the players and the teamwork that is done.”

 The data provided on players by FIFA is still reliant the quality of analysts interpreting it.

 “You can have millions of data points, but what are you doing with it?” Holzmueller said. “At the end even if you’re not such a rich country you could have a very, very clever good guy who is the analyst who could get probably more out of it than a country of 20 analysts if they don’t know really how they should read the data and what they should do with it.

“So it’s really up to each team and also up to each coach because we realize that for some coaches they say, ‘Look I have a gut feeling … I don’t need this information.’”

FIFA is happy with that. The governing body’s technical staff — the side often eclipsed by the high-profile members of the ruling-council — will continue to innovate. 

But artificial intelligence isn’t taking over. For some time, at least.

“People think now it’s all driven by computers,” Holzmueller said.  “We don’t want that at FIFA.”
…

Barbie, the world’s most iconic doll, is venturing into coding skills in her latest career as a robotics engineer.

The new doll, launched Tuesday, aims to encourage girls as young as seven to learn real coding skills, thanks to a partnership with the kids game-based computing platform Tynker, toymaker Mattel said.

Robotics engineer Barbie, dressed in jeans, a graphic T-shirt and denim jacket and wearing safety glasses, comes with six free Barbie-inspired coding lessons designed to teach logic, problem solving and the building blocks of coding.

The lessons, for example, show girls how to build robots, get them to move at a dance party, or do jumping jacks.

According to U.S. Department of Commerce statistics, 24 percent of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) jobs were held by women in 2017.

Barbie has held more than 200 careers in her almost 60-year life, including president, video game developer and astronaut.

Tynker co-founder Krishna Vedati said in a statement that the company’s mission to empower youth worldwide made Barbie an ideal partner “to help us introduce programming to a large number of kids in a fun engaging way.”

Watch Tynker promotional video:
…

The American fashion industry has something for nearly everyone: from high-fashion mavens, sports enthusiasts, to the most discriminating pet owners. Among the pet boutiques that aim to please the fussiest of pets and their owners, a popular designer stands out. Her name is Yana Syrkin, a Ukrainian immigrant who has been designing apparel for Hollywood pets for two decades. Iurii Mamon has more on Syrkin’s luxury pet store called Fifi & Romeo.
…

Born in Massachusetts, raised outside Washington D.C. and a resident of New York, director Debra Granik has lived a filmmaking life more intrepid than her own. Her films, fictional and documentary, have taken place in upstate New York, rural Missouri and, now, the Oregon woods.

 

“I come from what they call the land of nowhere. I’m from the suburbs,” said Granik in recent interview. “It’s extremely atomizing. So your search is: I’m born on this very narrow path. You have to knock on the door like a nerdy documentary filmmaker. What’s it like to be on your path? Can I be there for a minute?”

 

There are paths figurative and literal in Granik’s latest, “Leave No Trace.” It’s about a survivalist father (Ben Foster), an Army veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder and his teenage daughter (the New Zealand-born newcomer Thomasin McKenzie). They live off the grid in a nature preserve outside Portland, foraging off the land in an isolated idyll. But their shelter is discovered by authorities, and they’re forced reluctantly into a more conventional life.

 

“Leave No Trace,” which opens Friday, was a hit at both the Sundance and Cannes film festivals, where Granik last month joined a reporter in a beachside tent alongside Forster and McKenzie. The film has been met with similar raves as Granik’s previous fiction film, the Oscar-nominated Ozarks drama “Winter’s Bone,” which was the world’s introduction to Jennifer Lawrence.

 

“Winter’s Bone” was also a breakthrough for Granik, but one she didn’t seek to capitalize on the way some filmmakers might. In the eight years since, Granik has made only one other feature: the outstanding, stereotype-busting 2015 documentary “Stray Dog,” about a burly, Harley-riding Vietnam vet she met, and cast, while making “Winter’s Bone” in Missouri.

 

Granik has instead carved her own unique path in an industry that has come under criticism for consistently overlooking female directors for the biggest productions. But blockbusters aren’t what the resolutely indie 55-year-old filmmaker wants.

 

“It’s not the sexual time’s-up. It’s the financial time’s-up, and not even ‘pay me,'” said Granik.”`It’s: The movies don’t have to be so big and bloated. Bring down the bloat, the behemoth. It can be lighter.”

 

So amid the cacophony of summer movies, in between dinosaurs and superheroes, is the tender and earthy “Leave No Trace,” a movie about eking out a humble, quiet life on the edges of crowded, commercial society — right where Granik thrives.

 

“People that need a high kill ratio don’t have to come. It’s OK because we didn’t borrow so much money to make this,” Granik said. “If they want to see an American who’s working hard to keep his nobility intact and his daughter who’s really trying to understand him and figure out her life trajectory, then they can come and rap with us. Some people have to remain at the margin so that some of the offerings are about the margin.”

 

“Leave No Trace,” adapted from Peter Rock’s 2009 novel “My Abandonment,” was shot in and around Portland. Foster and McKenzie participated in pre-production wilderness survival training, which doubled as their rehearsal. Instead of work-shopping their dialogue, they learned about making fires, building shelters, eating mushrooms and working with knives.

“With most collaborators, you talk at them and they talk at you, and you go your separate ways,” said Foster. “This particular environment lent itself to being quiet together, doing shared tasks. In that way, it wove us. There was a physical, energetic shorthand that was developed.”

 

Cast over Skype, it was the first time McKenzie, 17, was in the United States since she was 6 years old. The acclaim for her performance in “Leave No Trace,” along with a few high-profile upcoming projects (Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit,” “The King” opposite Timothee Chalamet) has led to JLaw-like breakthrough chatter for the young actress.

 

McKenzie brought her own ways of preparing for a scene.

 

“We did a traditional Maori greeting touching noses and foreheads, being comfortable and intimate and not embarrassed about it,” said McKenzie. “My mum’s an acting coach and she’s got a technique called ‘hug to connect.’ So we would just hug each other for a minute or two to get into the rhythm of each other’s breath and heartbeat.”

 

Foster, the intense 37-year-old actor of “Hell or High Water” and “The Messenger,” is also a city dweller in New York. But he vividly described how trees have always been “medicinal to me” by recalling a spiritual experience he once had lying beneath a fallen Redwood. While making “Leave No Trace,” Foster found he increasingly identified with his character.

 

“It was such an intense shooting process and such an intense time at home. When I read the script, me and my fiancee found out she was pregnant,” said Foster, who recently wed the actress Laura Prepon. “Then we found out it was going to be a girl. So readying this script was so deeply moving and frightening. Frightening because this film is in many ways saying goodbye to many things, sometimes the person closest to us.”

 

That “Leave No Trace” was such a personal experience for both actors is a testament to Granik as a filmmaker. And the film — character-based, off-the-beaten-path — reflects Granik, herself. She even considered flying Ron Hall, the “Stray Dog” star, for a pivotal scene at an RV park. But that might have been leaving too much of a trail for a filmmaker of masterly sleight-of-hand.

 

“The ferns we trod on and trampled, we were happy to know — the ranger assured us — that in two weeks they would be robust again,” said Granik before adding, a little regretfully: “We did have to maul ferns.”
…

The group that hands out the Oscars said on Monday that it had invited 928 new members from 59 countries, in its biggest diversity drive after years of criticism of its mostly white and male membership.

Those invited include “Girls Trip” star Tiffany Haddish; “The Big Sick” co-writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon; and comedian and actor Dave Chappelle, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said in a statement.

If all those invited accept, female membership would rise to 31 percent from the current 28 percent, the group said. People of color will increase to 16 percent from 13 percent.

Total membership would stand at more than 7,000 actors, writers, directors, executives and others.

A lack of diversity within the academy has long been cited as a barrier to racial inclusion in Hollywood’s highest honors.

In 2016, the Academy responded by pledging to double female and minority membership by 2020.

 
…

The 2018 BET Awards barely handed out any trophies with big stars like Cardi B, Drake and Kendrick Lamar absent, but the show included superior performances by rising singer H.E.R., rapper Meek Mill and gospel artist Yolanda Adams, who paid tribute to Anita Baker and nearly brought her to tears.

Baker, an eight-time Grammy winner who dominated the R&B charts from the early ’80s to mid-90s, earned the Lifetime Achievement Award on Sunday at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The 60-year-old used her speech to encourage the artists in the room to keep music alive.

“I would ask that the music be allowed to play, that singers are allowed to sing, and rappers are allowed to rap, and poets are allowed to rhyme,” said Baker, who also was honored by host Jamie Foxx, Ledisi and Marsha Ambrosius.

H.E.R., whose real name is Gabi Wilson, was impressive as she sang the R&B hit “Focus,” played the electric guitar like a rock star and sang softly during the sweet love song “Best Part,” where she was joined by Daniel Caesar.

Meek Mill, who was released from prison in April, rapped the song “Stay Woke” on a stage transformed into a street corner, featuring hustlers, children and police officers. A mother screams as her child is shot during the powerful performance, and an officer lays an American flag over the body.

Meek Mill also made a statement by wearing a hoodie featuring the face of XXXTentacion, the 20-year-old rapper-singer who died after being shot last week.

“We can’t get used to these types of things. We’re too used to young people getting killed,” Foxx said when speaking about XXXTentacion later in the show.

The Oscar winner told the audience to “try to sneak a message in” their music.

“We got to figure something out,” he said.

Snoop Dogg celebrated 25 years in music, performing the classic songs “What’s My Name” and “Next Episode.” The rapper also performed songs from his recently released gospel album, wearing a choir robe on a stage that looked like a church.

Childish Gambino, whose song and music video “This Is America” tackles racism and gun violence and became a viral hit last month, gave a short, impromptu performance of the song when Foxx brought him onstage.

“Everybody begged me to do a joke about that song. I said that song should not be joked about,” Foxx said.

Foxx kicked off the show rejoicing in the uber success of “Black Panther,” namedropping the records the film has broken and even pulled Michael B. Jordan onstage to recite a line from the film.

“We don’t need a president right now because we got our king,” Foxx said of T’Challa. “(Director) Ryan Coogler gave us our king.”

Foxx entered the arena with a stuffed black panther toy – with a gold chain around its neck – which he handed to Jordan. The film won best movie.

“The film is about our experiences being African-Americans and also captures the experiences of being African,” Coogler said. “It was about tapping into the voice that tells us to be proud of who we are.”

At the end of his speech he told the audience to travel to Africa and learn more about the continent’s history.

SZA, who was the most nominated woman at this year’s Grammys, won best new artist and said she’s “never won anything in front of other people.”

She dedicated the award to those “lost in the world,” saying: “Follow your passion … believe in yourself.”

After the show, BET announced that Kendrick Lamar had won best album for “DAMN.” and best male hip-hop artist. Beyonce won best female pop/R&B artist, while Bruno Mars was named the best male pop/R&B artist.

“Girls Trip” star and comedian Tiffany Haddish, who won best actress and gave her speech in a taped video, also said encouraging words.

“You can achieve anything you want in life,” she said.

DJ Khaled was the leading nominee with six and picked up the first award of the night – best collaboration – for “Wild Thoughts” with Rihanna and Bryson Tiller. He was holding his son on his hip onstage and also used his speech to highlight young people.

“All of y’all are leaders and all of y’all are kings and queens – the future,” he said.

Migos won best group and gave a fun performance that even had Adams reciting the lyrics. J. Cole, Nicki Minaj, Janelle Monae, Miguel, YG, 2 Chainz and Big Sean also performed.

The BET Awards normally hands its Humanitarian Award to one person, but six individuals received the honor Sunday. Dubbed “Humanitarian Heroes,” the network gave awards to James Shaw Jr., who wrestled an assault-style rifle away from a gunman in a Tennessee Waffle House in April; Anthony Borges, the 15-year-old student who was shot five times and is credited with saving the lives of at least 20 other students during February massacre in Florida; Mamoudou Gassama, who scaled an apartment building to save a child dangling from a balcony last month in Paris; Naomi Wadler, an 11-year-old who gave a memorable and influential speech at March for Our Lives; Justin Blackman, the only student to walk out of his high school in North Carolina during the nationwide student walkout to protest gun violence in March; and journalist and activist Shaun King.

Debra Lee, who stepped down as chairman and CEO of BET last month after 32 years at the network, earned the Ultimate Icon Award.

“The power of black culture is unmatched. It’s beautiful. It’s amazing. It’s everything. It’s us,” she said.

She ended her speech quoting former U.S. President Barack Obama, calling him “our commander in chief,” which drew loud applause.

“And, it’s Debra Lee, out,” she said as she dropped her imaginary microphone.
…

Latin American countries have sprung a World Cup surprise by filling Russia’s 11 host cities with tens of thousands of fans from Mexico and Colombia to Peru and Argentina.

And some of the Europeans who did show up said their friends back home told them they were crazy to go.

The contrasting cast of supporters at the biggest event in sport reflects Russia’s progressive creep away from Europe in the 18 years of President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

Moscow is now embracing new allies that happen to worship football and where damning — and often exaggerated — media stories about Russian hooligans and poisoning cases are rare.

This mix and the added ingredient of a more evenly spread-out global middle-class with the means to travel the world has the streets of Russia dancing to a decidedly Latin beat.

“We didn’t expect it to be this beautiful and the people are amazing,” Mauricio Miranda said as she waved a Colombian flag on the edge of Red Square in Moscow.

“We will definitely come back,” said the 30-year-old.

Belgian public relations consultant Jo De Munter does not necessarily disagree. It is his friends who do.

“I think Europeans are a bit afraid,” the 46-year-old said while staring in the direction of Lenin’s Mausoleum.

“In Belgium, everybody told me I was crazy to go to the football.”

By the numbers

World Cups come in all shapes and sizes and comparing ticket sales rarely tells the whole tale.

Europeans and Latin Americans are naturally more inclined to attend World Cups held in their regions because of the easier travel arrangements and familiarity.

South Africa in 2010 may provide a better example because it was a frontier football country with specific security and logistical risks.

Yet FIFA figures showed almost 50 percent more Britons bought tickets for the African continent’s first World Cup than this maiden one in eastern Europe.

Australians were in third place then but are just ninth in Russia.

Germany and England bought the fourth- and fifth-most number of tickets. France was ninth.

But France dropped out of the top 10 in Russia while Britain slipped down to last place. Germany remained fourth.

The United States has long led purchases among non-hosting countries because of its massive economy and large communities from football-mad Mexico and other Central American communities.

Taking the US out of the equation leaves Latin Americans accounting for two-thirds of the top 10 countries that have bought tickets for Russia.

Safety net

Fans banging Mexican drums and sporting the red-and-white bodypaint of the Peruvian flag encountered on a Moscow summer’s day were almost all big city office workers.

Colombia’s Miranda is an urban planner with a new job in Canada.

Alexandro Grado is a former financial consultant with Mexico’s Citibanamex who now owns a plastics recycling firm.

“Going to Russia is not expensive if you buy everything ahead of time,” Grado said.

Yet not all fans can afford to go bar hopping near the Kremlin and sociologists who study the sport say this is where Latin American football federations come in.

“There are national teams which have very strong organizational support behind them. Argentina in 2010 was one example,” said Ludovic Lestrelin of France’s Universite de Caen in Normandy.

Lestrelin said less well-off fans in Europe get far less travel and accommodation assistance from state agencies and are increasingly more likely to stay home and watch on TV.

This means Europeans attending World Cups tend to be richer than the average football fan. The traveling Latin Americans are more likely to come from all types of backgrounds.

“Those who travel to Russia and other places do not reflect the social makeup of French stadiums,” said Lestrelin.

“Those (in France) are more diverse, with a central core of lower and middle class workers.”

Zbigniew Iwanowski of the Institute of Latin American Studies in Moscow said Russia is further reaping the rewards of a “pink tide” that brought anti-US leaders power across the continent.

“The pendulum has swung back to the right but they still have (Russian state media) like Sputnik and RT,” Iwanowski said.

“Russia’s image is better in Latin America than it is in Europe and US.”

‘Not properly European’

Few would argue that Russia generates a lot of negative headlines in Europe in general and Britain in particular.

But the media’s role in shaping public opinion — and the reverse — is all but impossible to gauge.

What is clear is that at least some of the Europeans who ventured to Moscow and beyond did so with a degree of trepidation the voyagers from Latin America lacked.

De Munter said he often travels to watch Belgium play abroad. Rarely has he seen the national team’s support so small.

“We are expecting 4,000 Belgian people, which is not that much. Especially now because the Red Devils are doing very well.”

Gherardo Drardanelli flew in from Italy to take part in one of the fan tournaments organised alongside the World Cup.

“I think our concept of Russia — we feel that Russia is far away, that it’s not a properly European country,” the 28-year-old said. 
…

Donald Hall, a prolific, award-winning poet and man of letters widely admired for his sharp humor and painful candor about nature, mortality, baseball and the distant past, has died at age 89.

Hall’s daughter, Philippa Smith, confirmed Sunday that her father died Saturday at his home in Wilmot, New Hampshire, after being in hospice care for some time. 

“He’s really quite amazingly versatile,” said Hall’s long-time friend Mike Pride, the editor emeritus of the Concord Monitor newspaper and a retired administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. He said Hall would occasionally speak to reporters at the Monitor about the importance of words. 

Hall was the nation’s 2006-2007 poet laureate.

Starting in the 1950s, Hall published more than 50 books, from poetry and drama to biography and memoirs, and edited a pair of influential anthologies. He was an avid baseball fan who wrote odes to his beloved Boston Red Sox, completed a book on pitcher Dock Ellis and contributed to Sports Illustrated. He wrote a prize-winning children’s book, “Ox-Cart Man,” and even attempted a biography of Charles Laughton, only to have his actor’s widow, Elsa Lanchester, kill the project. 

But the greatest acclaim came for his poetry, for which his honors included a National Book Critics Circle prize, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a National Medal of Arts. Although his style varied from haikus to blank verse, he returned repeatedly to a handful of themes: his childhood, the death of his parents and grandparents and the loss of his second wife and fellow poet, Jane Kenyon. 

“Much of my poetry has been elegiac, even morbid, beginning with laments over New Hampshire farms and extending to the death of my wife,” he wrote in the memoir “Packing the Boxes,” published in 2008. 

In person, he at times resembled a 19th century rustic with his untrimmed beard and ragged hair. And his work reached back to timeless images of his beloved, ancestral New Hampshire home, Eagle Pond Farm, built in 1803 and belonging to his family since the 1860s. He kept country hours for much of his working life, rising at 6 and writing for two hours. 

For Hall, the industrialized, commercialized world often seemed an intrusion, like a neon sign along a dirt road. In the tradition of T.S. Eliot and other modernists, he juxtaposed classical and historical references with contemporary slang and brand names. In “Building a House,” he begins with the drafters of the U.S. Constitution leaving Philadelphia, then shifts the setting to the 20th century. 

___ 

Some delegates hitched rides chatting with teamsters 

some flew standby and wandered stoned in O’Hare 

or borrowed from King Alexander’s National Bank. 

____ 

An opponent of the Vietnam War whose taxes were audited year after year, he was also ruthlessly self-critical. Nakedly, even abjectly, he recorded his failures and shortcomings and disappointments, whether his infidelities or his struggles with alcoholism. 

The joy and tragedy of his life were his years with Kenyon, his second wife. They met in 1969, when she was his student at the University of Michigan. By the mid-70s, they were married and living together at Eagle Creek, fellow poets enjoying a fantasy of mind and body – of sex, work and homemaking. 

“We sleep, we make love, we plant a tree, we walk up and down/eating lunch,” he wrote. 

But Kenyon was diagnosed with leukemia and died 18 months later, in 1995, when she was only 47. Even as he found new lovers – and sought them compulsively – Hall never stopped mourning her and arranged to be buried next to her, beneath a headstone inscribed with lines from one of her poems: “I BELIEVE IN THE MIRACLES OF ART, BUT WHAT PRODIGY WILL KEEP YOU BESIDE ME?” 

In the 1998 collection “Without,” and in many poems after, he reflected on her dying days, on the shock of outliving a woman so many years younger, and the lasting bewilderment of their dog Gus, who years later was still looking for her. In “Rain,” he bitterly summarized his efforts to help her. 

___ 

I never belittled her sorrows or joshed at her dreads and miseries 

How admirable I found myself. 

____ 

Hall was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1928, but soon favored Eagle Pond to the “blocks of six-room houses” back home. By age 14, he had decided to become a poet, inspired after a conversation with a fellow teen versifier who declared, “It is my profession.” 

“I had never heard anyone speak so thrilling a sentence,” Hall remembered. 

He published poetry while a struggling student at Phillips Exeter Academy and formed many lasting literary friendships at Harvard University, including with fellow poets Robert Bly and Adrienne Rich and with George Plimpton, for whom he later served as the first poetry editor at The Paris Review. He also met Daniel Ellsberg and would suspect well before others that the anonymous leaker of the Vietnam War documents known as the Pentagon Papers was his old college friend. 

After graduating from Harvard, Hall studied at the University of Oxford and became one of the few Americans to win the Newdigate Prize, a poetry honor founded at Oxford and previously given to Oscar Wilde, John Ruskin and other British writers. He returned to the states in the mid-1950s and taught at several schools, including Stanford University at Bennington College. He was married to Kirby Thompson from 1952-69, and they had two children. 

Hall’s first literary hero was Edgar Allan Poe and death was an early subject. He completed his debut collection, “Exiles and Marriages,” between visits to his ailing father, who died at the end of 1955. In the poem “Snow,” Hall confesses, “Like an old man/whatever I touch I turn/to the story of death.” 

In recent years, as Hall entered the “planet of antiquity,” many of his elegies were for himself. He worried that “anthologies dropped him out/Poetry festivals never invited him.” He pictured himself awaking “mournful,” dressed in black pajamas. He warned that a story with a happy ending had not really ended, but advised that we leave behind a story to tell. 

“Work, love, build a house, and die,” he wrote. “But build a house.”
…

Jehovah’s Witnesses have a long history of being persecuted around the world. Their activities are banned or restricted in several countries. They are considered an extremist organization in Russia, while their members are imprisoned in South Korea and Eritrea. Even near their main headquarters and publishing house in New York state, Jehovah’s Witnesses lead a somewhat secluded life. VOA’s Anush Avetisyan has the story.
…

Globalization in the 20th century facilitated the exchange of goods, ideas and technology. But it also helped spread deadly germs and viruses around the world. A new exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History illustrates the impact of these sometimes lethal biological linkages and looks back at the deadliest and scariest epidemics throughout history. Maxim Moskalkov has more.
…

In New York, Auxiliary Police Officers act as liaison between communities and the police department. Recently, Gursoch Kaur made headlines when she became the first female Sikh officer to serve in the Auxiliary Unit wearing a dastar, the traditional Sikh turban. Usually dastars are worn by Sikh men, but some women choose to wear them to raise awareness about their religion. VOA reporter Aunshuman Apte spoke to Gursoch Kaur to learn why she made that choice and how the community is reacting.
…

“All I want to do is the Bataclan, the Bataclan.” Those are lyrics to a song released earlier in the year by rapper Medine. Two of his concerts are scheduled for the Bataclan theater in October. But not everyone wants to see the shows go on.

At issue, in part, are the words to another song by the artist, whose real name is Medine Zaouiche. In the song, “Don’t Laik,” one line goes, “I put fatwas on the heads of idiots.” The song was released in 2015 — the same year that France was hit by several terrorist attacks, including one targeting the Bataclan.

This is not the first time Medina has generated controversy. A decade earlier, he released an album titled Jihad — and he has been photographed in a T-shirt bearing the term, and a massive sword.

Now, thousands of people have signed a petition launched by the far right and demanding Medine’s concerts be canceled. Critics are tweeting their opposition via the hashtag #pasdemedineaubataclan, or “no Medine at the Bataclan.”

On French radio, far-right National Rally party head Marine Le Pen described Medine as an Islamic fundamentalist. His performance at the Bataclan, she said, is a threat to public order.

Victims’ associations are divided. Philippe Duperron, who heads one of them, is against the concerts taking place, out of respect for the victims and the memory of them.

Medine and his lawyers are fighting back. The rapper has criticized Islamic fundamentalism a number of times and says he is against violence. He says “Don’t Laik” is more of a slap at France’s tough secular creed, and that the jihad he refers to is an internal spiritual struggle, rather than violence.

“It’s been 15 years since I’ve criticized all forms of radicalism in my albums,” he posted recently on social media. Banning his concerts, he argues, amounts to caving in to the far right.

Medine’s arguments are drawing support, partly in the name of free expression. That appears to be the argument of Prime Minister Edouard Philippe. 

Still, others argue the divisions over the rapper’s concerts are the worst outcome, at a time when the French should be united against terrorism. 
…

U.S. celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who killed himself in a French hotel room earlier this month, had no narcotics or alcohol in his body when he died, a local prosecutor said on Friday.

Bourdain, host of CNN’s food-and-travel-focused “Parts Unknown” television series, was 61. Brash and opinionated, he had spoken openly about his use of drugs and addiction to heroin earlier in his life.

“No trace of narcotics, no trace of any toxic products, no trace of medicines, no trace of alcohol,” prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny told Reuters.

Bourdain, whose career catapulted him from washing dishes at New York restaurants to dining in Vietnam with President Barack Obama, hanged himself in a hotel room near Strasbourg, France, where he had been working on an upcoming episode of his TV series, according to CNN.

 
…

Michael Benanav has traveled around much of the world, chronicling in words and pictures nomadic communities from Mali, to Jordan to Mongolia. But when the photographer heard about the Van Gujjar tribe of Northern India, he knew he wanted to do more than just document their existence. He wanted to join them on a migration to better understand their nomadic way of life and culture.
…

A report published Friday by Europe’s top human rights body finds xenophobia and hate speech are on the rise across the region. Despite progress in some areas, the Council of Europe finds minorities, including Muslims, Jews, homosexuals and Roma, face stigma, intolerance and sometimes exclusion across its 48 member states. A citizens’ initiative aims to bridge these divisions through dialogue. From the northern French city of Caen, Lisa Bryant reports for VOA on so-called “Living Libraries.”
…

One Iceland fan went to primary school with a player’s father. Another supporter’s son used to regularly wait on the team at a bar. And yet another fan is related by marriage to the squad’s chef.

With a population of around 350,000, Iceland is the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup. So, for fans descending on Russia for the Nordic island’s first ever appearance at the tournament, the national team is often a deeply personal affair, with many supporters boasting blood ties or personal links with the players.

Bjarni Arnason, a 31-year-old Icelandic architect who travelled to Volgograd to watch his team play Nigeria in Group D on Friday, fondly recalled playing handball at high school with Iceland defender Ragnar Sigurdsson.

“He was really good!” laughed Arnason, decked out in the Iceland jersey on Thursday. “He was so good that the football team wanted him to just play football.”

The connections go on: A pal of Arnason is best friends with the wife of Iceland’s goalkeeper while a cousin played football with another player.

And Arnason’s father, in Volgograd for the game too, is old friends with the father of Alfred Finnbogason, who scored against twice world champions Argentina in their opening game on Saturday which ended 1-1.

“I added an 11 on my Iceland team shirt in honor of my friend’s son,” said Arni Sigurdsson.

But, true to Iceland’s no-frills reputation, that’s as far as the preferential treatment goes.

“I cheer for the team. I don’t cheer extra hard for anyone. We are probably all related somewhat anyway!” added engineer Sigurdsson, 61, with a chuckle.

That attitude is reflected on the pitch too. Coach — and part-time dentist — Heimir Hallgrimsson insists that all players are treated equally.

‘Cinderella story’

The team had a thrilling run at 2016 European championship, eliminating big-name England and advancing to the quarter-finals, propelled by their “thunder-clapping” fans and Viking imagery.

Iceland’s “Cinderella story” has smitten many football aficionados, especially those disgusted by corruption scandals engulfing FIFA and put off by the diva-like attitude of some leading players.

But one downside to hailing from such a small place is that privacy is not always an option.

Iceland fan Svavar Asmundsson said his son used to regularly pour drinks for members of Iceland’s team while working at a bar in capital Reykjavik.

“It was all good … But some of them are a little crazier than the others!” said Asmundsson, a 59-year-old who works in the fishing industry.

Still, the close-knit community never feels suffocating, said the father of midfielder Birkir Bjarnason, who was also in Volgograd to see his son play Nigeria.”

Africa’s most populous country with close to 200 million people, some 571 times Iceland’s population.

“I know who the fathers and mothers of all the players are. Many parents I knew before, but most of them I met after they started to play together,” said the midfielder’s father Bjarni Sveinbjornsson, a 55-year-old electrician. “It’s kind of a family.” 
…

Hymns sung to the Greek gods thousands of years ago resonated from ancient musical instruments in Athens on Thursday, transporting a transfixed audience to antiquity.

The phorminx, the kitharis, the krotala and the aulos —  string and wind instruments reconstructed by musical group Lyravlos — echoed among marble statues in Athens’s National Archaeological Museum as part of World Music Day celebrations.

A family of musicians, Lyravlos have recreated exact replicas of the ancient instruments from natural materials including animal shells, bones, hides and horns.

Music was an integral part of almost every aspect of ancient Greek society, from religious, to social to athletic events.

Today only some 60 written scores of ancient Greek music have survived, said Lyravlos member Michael Stefos.

Stefos said they interpret them as best they can, relying on the accuracy of their recreated instruments.

“Joking aside, ancient CDs have never been found,” he said. Their performance included a hymn to the god Apollo, pieces played at the musical festival of the ancient Pythian Games in Delphi and during wine-laden rituals to the god Dionysus.

Michael’s father Panayiotis Stefos, who heads the group, travels to museums at home and abroad studying ancient Greek antiquities and texts in order to recreate the instruments.

“Usually each instrument has a different sound. It is not something you can make on a computer, it will not be a carbon copy,” said Stefos.

The difference with modern day instruments? “If someone holds it in their arms and starts playing, after a few minutes they don’t want to let it go, because it vibrates and pulsates with your body,” he said.

French tourist Helene Piaget, who watched the performance, said it was “inspiring.”

“One sees them on statues, on reliefs, and you can’t imagine what they might sound like,” she said.

World Music Day is an annual celebration that takes place on the summer solstice.
…

A new film explores the bond between a young man with autism and the sister who cares for him.

Nathan’s Kingdom stars Jacob Lince, a 24-year-old actor who has autism. Cast members say the fantasy-drama was a journey of discovery much like the odyssey of the movie’s characters.

As a child, Lince was diagnosed with high-functioning autism, a condition that hampers the ability to communicate. He developed a talent in acting and became part of a program called Performing Arts Studio West, which provides training for people with developmental disabilities.

“I literally went there, introduced myself and got to really know what they’re all about,” said the film’s writer-director, Olicer J. Munoz. “That’s where Jacob and I discovered each other,” he said.

On a quest

Lince has faced challenges, but none as severe as those faced by the character in the film.

“He is a very complex human being,” Lince said of Nathan, who is battling imaginary demons, embodied through graphic visual effects. “He’s been through a lot in his life, and he’s had this idea in his head since he was very young about ‘the kingdom,’” said Lince, “where he feels he can be safe, and where he can escape all the darkness out there and inside of him.”

The character takes his reluctant sister, Laura, played by Madison Ford, on his quest for the mythical kingdom. Laura is Nathan’s caregiver who is battling a demon of her own — opiate addiction. Together, they embark on a road trip through the Mojave Desert.

An adventure

Ford said that Lince is calm and optimistic, unlike the character in the story.

“Filming this was an adventure in of itself,” she said, “and it was so cool to have an adventure partner there with me,” she said. “Jacob is funny, but he takes his (acting) job seriously, as well,” she added.

The film was a labor of love for Munoz, who had trouble getting funding. He said studios liked the story, but none would offer financing. So, he raised the funds himself with his producers.

“We shot a little bit, ran out of money, raised more money,” he said. “Then we spent all that money for our next block of filming, and then we raised more money. And little by little, we were able to make this film a reality in the course of about 3½ years.”

Fulfilling journey

Nathan’s Kingdom was screened at the historic Grauman’s TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood as a selection of the Dances with Films festival. About 200 films were selected from more than 2,000 entries.

“We want unique, fresh voices,” said festival co-founder Leslee Scallon. “We want it [the festival] also to have great performances.” Nathan’s Kingdom has both, she said.

Cast members had a hard but fulfilling journey, like the characters in the film, Lince said. 

“We made a lot of friends, and at the end of the day, I think we all did a great job. And it was a fantastic experience,” he added.

Lince is studying filmmaking in college and hopes to make a career in the movie industry. He also hopes to see more roles for actors on the autism spectrum like him, and more stories like Nathan’s Kingdom on the big screen.

About 1 in 59 children in the United States has been identified as having autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The condition is about four times more common among boys than girls, the CDC notes.
…

A new film explores the bond between a young man with autism and the sister who cares for him. The fantasy-drama “Nathan’s Kingdom” stars an actor with autism, and as Mike O’Sullivan reports, the film was a journey of discovery for the cast and filmmaker.
…

Former U.S. prison convicts often face big challenges after they are released from jail. Aside from having to relearn how to function in normal society, many find that having a criminal background makes it difficult, if not impossible, to land a suitable job. But one restaurant in Cleveland wants to give ex-cons a second chance. VOA’s Yahya Barzinji visited Edwins Restaurant to learn more. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.
…

Kate Spade New York has announced plans to donate $1 million to support suicide prevention and mental health awareness causes in tribute to the company’s late founder.

To start, the company said Wednesday the Kate Spade New York Foundation is giving $250,000 to the Crisis Text Line, a free, 24-hour confidential text message service for people in crisis.

The company also said it will match public donations made to the service from June 20 through June 29, up to an amount of $100,000.

Kate Spade New York also says it will host a Global Mental Health Awareness Day for employees as part of its Wellness Program.

The 55-year-old fashion designer was found dead by suicide June 5. Her husband says she suffered from depression and anxiety for many years.
…

The actress and husband Jose “Pepe” Baston welcomed Santiago Enrique Baston into the world Tuesday. They say they are so grateful “for this beautiful blessing.”

The couple shared the child’s first picture with the magazine Hola! USA. The baby, wearing a hospital cap, is shown resting on his mother’s chest.

During her pregnancy, the 43-year-old Longoria supported the Time’s Up movement and received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She also attended the premier of her movie Overboard.

Her husband has three children from a previous marriage.
…

The World Cup attracts billions of viewers across the globe, many of them in Africa. As the best footballers in the world battle it out to be crowned champion, Zaheer Cassim in Johannesburg explores how Africans are putting aside their differences and are backing all the teams from the continent.
…

U.S. broadcast network CBS will expand the popular “Star Trek” science-fiction franchise with new series, mini-series and animation under a production deal announced on Tuesday.

CBS said in a statement that it had signed a five-year deal with producer Alex Kurtzman to supervise a range of new programming related to “Star Trek.”

Kurtzman is a writer and producer of “Star Trek: Discovery,” which premiered in September 2017 on the CBS All Access streaming service. A second season is currently in production. He also co-wrote and produced the 2009 “Star Trek” feature film and 2013 sequel “Star Trek: Into Darkness.”

The original “Star Trek” debuted in 1966 as a U.S. television series depicting the adventures of the Starship Enterprise. It was created by the late Gene Roddenberry and featured characters including Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, and Vulcan officer Mr. Spock, played by the late Leonard Nimoy.

The CBS network is a unit of CBS Corp.
…

A musical inspired by the life of late pop singer Michael Jackson will open on Broadway in 2020, Jackson’s estate and its producing partner said on Tuesday.

The story will be written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, according to a statement from the “Thriller” singer’s estate and Columbia Live Stage, co-developers of the untitled production.

The show will feature songs from Jackson’s extensive catalog of hits, it said.

Known as the King of Pop, Jackson died at age 50 in 2009 from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol and sedatives.

His estate previously collaborated on a live tribute show by Cirque du Soleil called “Michael Jackson One,” which has been running in Las Vegas since 2013.

Jackson gained success with songs such as “ABC” and “I’ll Be There” as a child singer with his brothers, and later pursued a solo career that earned him worldwide fame and fans with hits such as “Rock With You,” “Bad” and “Beat It.”

 
…