Archive for the ‘Top Stories’ Category

PostHeaderIcon A Digital Night at the Opera

[CGI OPERA]

Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

The Rhinemaidens at a rehearsal for ‘Das Rheingold’ at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

When the Rhinemaidens sing from their underwater realm at the start of the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “Das Rheingold,” bubbles seem to stream from their mouths. The louder they sing, the more the bubbles flow, following the nymphs as they undulate across a deep-blue backdrop.

What is meant to be a poetic moment has a more technical description: “It’s all a bunch of pixels waiting to be animated by live performance,” says Robert Lepage, the 52-year-old Canadian who is directing the opera in New York.

In its perpetual quest for the biggest, splashiest and most ambitious sets and special effects, the opera world is increasingly borrowing gadgetry from the movie industry. Digital imagery and computer graphics are migrating to the stage, appearing in operas and other live performances with growing regularity.

The Los Angeles Opera’s new “Il Postino,” opening next Thursday, uses a combination of digitally manipulated images and streaming video. Computer-edited pictures of birds fly across the stage. The moon and clouds are projections as well.

This week at an “Il Postino” rehearsal, Plácido Domingo practiced his first live-video scene in opera. Mr. Domingo, playing Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, is interviewed in Paris about his life in exile on an Italian island. To achieve the effect, Mr. Domingo must hustle to a room off stage, where he sings in Spanish into a live camera. The audience will watch a him on an onstage screen as he sings. “I always like to experience new and different things,” Mr. Domingo said through a spokesman.

Christopher Koelsch, the L.A. Opera’s vice president of artistic planning, says the scene needed a documentary feel, but the opera wanted to use live singing rather than archival film footage of Mr. Neruda. “We’re going for a magical realism,” he says.

In New York, those Rhinemaiden bubbles are the result of three years of work by Mr. Lepage’s team. The stage is bathed in infrared light that enables the bubble images to appear near the nymphs as they’re swimming, while voice-sensitive technology can increase the volume of bubbles as they sing, mimicking what happens in real life when a person exhales underwater.

The set, which lacks painted scenery, consists of 24 large gray planks that move independently and as a unit, rotating 360 degrees on their own or twisting collectively like a giant spine. The projections, which appear to stick to this hard surface, comprise the backdrop for most scenes.

The video is interactive, increasing or diminishing in intensity based on sound and movement coming from the stage. When the nymphs disturb the Rhine riverbed with their gauzy fan-tails, pebbles seem to fall underneath them. Loge, the fire god, is followed by a halo of flames. A hidden camera captures shadowy images of inhabitants of the underground realm of Nibelheim which are then projected onto the set. Actors seem to displace an image of mist—what the creative team calls “sfumato,” after the Renaissance painting technique—as they move in front of it.

Mr. Lepage wants the technology to enhance, not upstage, the theatrical experience. “It should have the invisibility and the see-throughness of music,” he says. The director will helm all four of Richard Wagner’s Ring operas for the Met over the next two years, starting with “Das Rheingold,” opening the Met’s season on Sept. 27 (and transmitted in high-definition to movie theaters on Oct. 9).

Two floors below the stage, behind a gray door marked “video bunker,” sits the nerve center for the production—a cinder-block room filled with 19 whirring computers that support the 9 projectors and three cameras creating the onstage effects. The room, once a storage space, was repurposed for “Das Rheingold,” a production that represents the most extensive use of computer projections in the Met’s history, says general manager Peter Gelb.

“Lepage is to me sort of what Spielberg is to moviemaking,” Mr. Gelb says.

Write to Ellen Gamerman at ellen.gamerman@wsj.com

© 2011 Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)

PostHeaderIcon McDonald’s row murder pair guilty

Two men have been found guilty of murder after shooting dead a stranger following a row in a McDonald's queue.

Horace Campbell, 28, and Liam Douglas-O'Callaghan, 18, murdered Devon Scarlett, 32, in Brixton, south London, in April 2011.

The victim and Campbell began to argue and, when escorted outside, agreed to meet nearby for a "shoot out".

Campbell, of Anerley, and Douglas-O'Callaghan, of Herne Hill, are due to be sentenced on Monday.

Bobbie Cheema, prosecuting at the Old Bailey, said once they had been removed from the restaurant Campbell had called Douglas-O'Callaghan to bring his "thing" or gun.

Mr Scarlett appeared to make a similar call but no actual call was made.

Miss Cheema said: "Horace Campbell was determined to avenge the perceived lack of respect that Devon Scarlett showed him.

"Devon Scarlett acted with foolish bravado, behaving like a tough guy, but whatever he said and did, he was not armed."

Campbell, who had been drinking, followed Mr Scarlett into Marcus Garvey Way and fired three shots – two of them hitting the victim.

Campbell said: "You are not so hot now," before walking away.

Mr Scarlett, a father-of-four, from Croydon, south London, who was born Raymond Mitchell, died a few hours later in hospital.

The court heard that Mr Scarlett had become involved in "someone else's argument" in McDonald's.

When people tried to intervene, Campbell told them Mr Scarlett had been "too disrespectful and was going to be shot in the head" and would be "filled up with lead".

A woman had heard them agreeing to meet in the nearby street "effectively for a shoot-out", the court heard.

© 2011 BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk)

PostHeaderIcon Llegó la hora de organizar sus fotos digitales

Mientras asumía la tarea de hacer una limpieza general en mi casa, pensé que también era hora de poner bajo control mi olvidada y cada vez más grande colección de fotos, una tarea que he venido aplazando desde la época de los discos Zip.

Para encontrar la solución perfecta, sondeé a fotógrafos profesionales, editores de fotografía y aficionados a la imagen. Los profesionales me recomendaron software que era bueno pero muy complicado para mis necesidades. Otros reconocieron que habían tirado la toalla en intentos similares y una amiga describió su sistema como “compra de discos duros cada vez más grandes”.

Debe existir una mejor forma. Pensé que si clasificaba todo (el equivalente a distribuir las cosas del hogar en diferentes contenedores), me sentiría mejor. Intenté etiquetar con palabras clave las imágenes, de modo que las pudiera buscar más adelante. Pero pensar en palabras para describir todos los eventos en su vida es agotador, así que me di por vencido.

La buena noticia es que incluso un pobre intento de organizar mis fotos hizo que mi colección fuera más fácil de manejar. Todos los software de organización de fotos pueden clasificar imágenes por fecha. Los mejores pueden incluso hacerlo por reconocimiento de caras. Eso me acercó al punto en el que podía encontrar cualquier foto que quisiera.

A continuación explico los pasos que tomé para llegar allí. Seguramente hay métodos más sensatos, así que esta es una estrategia para los que se agobian con facilidad. Además, es mejor tropezarse con los recuerdos involuntariamente que buscarlos.

Consolidar

Piense que se trata de un descongestionamiento virtual. La idea es poner todas las fotos en un sólo lugar

Busque en discos duros y de almacenamiento

Tanto el sistema operativo Windows como el de Mac le permiten buscar en un disco por el tipo de archivo. Extraiga todas las imágenes y llévelas a la unidad de almacenamiento donde piensa guardar sus fotos. Borre las fotos en el disco duro original para que no termine con duplicados.

Harry Campbell

Desempolve los medios antiguos

¿Aún tiene discos de generaciones pasadas pero no dónde leerlos? Compre un lector en eBay o llévelos a un lugar que ofrezca lecturas de formatos antiguos. Así puede deshacerse de dichas reliquias.

Limpie sus tarjetas de memoria

Si es de los que deja acumular fotos en las tarjetas de sus cámaras, evalúe la compra de una tarjeta de memoria con capacidad para transmitir imágenes inalámbricamente a su computadora como la Eye-Fi Pro X2.

Revise sus correos electrónicos

Cuando alguien le envía una foto que vale la pena guardar, descárguela en lugar de dejarla en su bandeja de entrada. Si no está en su casa u oficina, traspáselas a una carpeta designada “para descargar” de modo que recuerde bajarlas cuando esté en su computadora.

Editar

La reducción es clave para la organización tanto en el mundo material como en el virtual. Las computadoras son ideales para esto

Hágalo con calma

Los sistemas operativos más recientes facilitan la navegación y clasificación de miles de fotos. Tanto Windows Live Photo Gallery, que viene con la última versión de Windows, como iPhoto de Mac son opciones excelentes. De todas formas, mi favorito es Picasa, de Google. Si las fotos son parte de su trabajo, puede designar un programa para las fotos de su empresa y otra para las personales.

Harry Campbell

Hora de eliminar

En primer lugar, trate de borrar las tomas malas directamente en su cámara. Esta es una actividad que puede hacer cuando esté viajando y necesite matar tiempo. En lugar de revisar emails o jugar solitario, edite. Esto le dejará una sensación de satisfacción en vez de una distracción pasajera.

Premie a las ganadoras

La mayoría de los programas le permitirán asignar un puntaje a las fotos en una escala de una a cinco estrellas. En mi caso, les doy cinco estrellas o nada, para facilitar el proceso. Y no se preocupe, las fotos mediocres aún estarán ahí si decide revisitarlas más adelante.

Esconda lo que es privado

El software de organización de fotos extraerá cada imagen de discos y carpetas. Si tiene algunas que prefiere mantener en privado, comprímalas en archivos zip y luego borre las originales.

Etiquetar

Deje que su cámara y computadora hagan la mayor parte del trabajo, así no tendrá que perder el tiempo etiquetando

Mantenga un orden cronológico

Cuando tiene que lidiar con miles de fotos, tenerlas con la fecha correcta es esencial. Asegúrese de que el reloj y el calendario de su cámara estén sincronizados adecuadamente. Y para evitar que la pila del reloj se agote, no deje demasiado tiempo su cámara con una batería descargada. Cuando encuentre sus fotos, puede que algunas salgan con fechas del siglo pasado. Puede usar el software de fotos para corregir las fechas de las imágenes.

Harry Campbell

Agregue la ubicación

Una de las ventajas de usar cámaras de teléfonos inteligentes es que la mayoría tiene etiquetado geográfico, el cual graba las coordenadas de GPS del lugar donde fue tomada la foto. Por ejemplo, fotos de su viaje a Miami serán agrupadas automáticamente sin necesidad de que usted las rotule manualmente. La tarjeta Eye-Fi Pro X2 también hace esto en las cámaras que no tienen GPS. Usa puntos de conexión Wi-Fi (sin necesidad de estar conectado a uno) para determinar su ubicación y pone la etiqueta correspondiente a su foto.

Reconocimiento facial

Una vez que se “entrenan”, Picasa, iPhoto y Windows Live Photo Gallery son bastante buenos en adivinar quién aparece en una foto. El algoritmo no es perfecto, pero es superior a las etiquetas manuales. Y ver por quién el software confunde a sus amigos y familiares es divertido. Claro, siempre puede ingresar etiquetas más descriptivas. Pero el saber quién, cuándo y dónde debe ayudarle a encontrar la mayoría de las fotos que busca, o por lo menos acercarse.

Respaldo

Para eso coleccionó momentos memorables, para mantenerlos seguros


Grabe todo en una unidad de almacenamiento

No se preocupe acerca de volver a poner nombres a archivos o clasificarlos en carpetas, simplemente ponga todo en un solo disco. Sí, es el equivalente de tirar todo dentro de un closet, pero su software de administración de fotos organizará mágicamente todo. Sólo asegúrese de que el disco sea lo suficientemente grande.

Harry Campbell

Mantenga una copia separada

El siguiente paso es opcional pero útil: antes de empezar a editar sus fotos, cópielas todas en otra unidad de disco y guárdelo en otro lugar que no sea su casa.

Guárdelas en la nube

La mayoría de los sitios para compartir fotos archivarán sus imágenes, pero es difícil superar lo que ofrece Shutterfly: almacenamiento infinito y gratis de sus fotos en su resolución original. Otros sitios como Flickr Pro y SmugMug ofrecen servicios similares por un pago modesto.

© 2011 Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)

PostHeaderIcon Vanessa Williams shares insights

Their pose eschews the cliché embrace. Instead they strike a stance of support — mother and daughter side by side, arms hooked. The book intertwines their two stories, how each has struggled on her own and how the complicated relationship that binds them still supplies a safety net.

From public scandal — she stepped down as the first black Miss America after nude photos of her appeared in Penthouse magazine — to Broadway triumph, Williams has been on the celebrity radar for decades. Through it all, her mother has been a touchstone of humor and support in good times and bad.

CNN sat down with both women to discuss their book, their parenting revelations and their memories from a lifetime in the spotlight. The following is an edited transcript of the conversation.

CNN: How has your relationship evolved over time?

Helen: Well, as Vanessa has grown into womanhood and become a mother, it’s a more adult-to-adult relationship now, rather than the domineering mom, as they tend to think I was, to a more relaxed relationship but understanding that I’m still a mother in the relationship.

Vanessa: As a mother now of four children, I can see her much more wholly as a woman, a mother, someone who has had a past and someone whose past has influenced her choices as well as mine. The wiser you get, the more experience you have, and the more you see people for who they are as human beings, as opposed to figures you have to fight against. I think I am much more conscious of back story, temperament and even going through perimenopause and how it can affect your mood, attitude and relations and how you deal with people. There are a lot of things that you don’t realize that your parents are going through when you’re a kid.

CNN: How did you ‘survive’ all of that together?

Helen: (Her father and I) were the support that we felt she needed to survive some of the things that she had to deal with that were not always the positive things. And we were also the supporters when something really exciting happened, like when she had her first Broadway show.

Vanessa: And it’s never-ending, especially in this business. You’re always going to have people that are naysayers, that don’t believe in your talent, that don’t believe that you have any kind of longevity. I am happy to be able to look back — because the book is called “You Have No Idea,” and every time there has been a major triumph in my career, nobody ever expected it. On Broadway: “I didn’t know she could sing and dance.” A No. 1 hit on the radio: “I had no idea that she could be a recording artist.” With “Ugly Betty” and three Emmy nominations: “I had no idea she was funny.” It is always redefining who you are and raging against the machine.

CNN: What do you think mothers and daughters will take away from this book?

Vanessa: I hope that they see that it’s not all peaches and cream. Even when we shot the cover — they had shown me the cover of Ellen Degeneres’ book with her mom, and it was warm, loving and toasty, and they are embracing each other. And I said, “That’s not us!” In the back of the book, you see me crowning her, because she is the real queen in our family. And so there is a sense of humor, which is part of our dynamic, and that’s how we get through lots of things in our life.

Helen: What I hope they take away is it’s an honest story of two experiences, two different people with two different personalities, and how we were able to respect our roles as a mother and daughter and tell the story that worked for us with support, love, caring and being there for your child.

CNN: What did you want for Vanessa?

Helen: We wanted her to be whatever she chose to be as her life goal. To support her, doing whatever we could to make it happen. To be a happy, successful person.

Vanessa: I also think, had I not been talented in the arts and I still wanted to be in it, they would have said “Why don’t you do something else?” Luckily they saw my talent and my interest in it and they gave me all the gifts to allow me to take dance class, piano and French horn and be in theater and major in musical theater in college, rather than saying, “Why don’t you do something normal?” or “Get a real job.” I never heard that.

CNN: As a mother now, do you hear yourself saying things that sound like your mother?

Vanessa: When I heard it loud and clear was when I was on location shooting a show called “Who Do You Think You Are.” I was on the phone with my 11-year-old daughter. She started with violin, played piano and percussion, then she wanted to switch to the trumpet, and then wanted to drop it altogether. I remember saying, “We don’t drop our instruments in this family. Everyone takes an instrument until they graduate, and that’s what we do as a family, so you’ve got to figure out if it’s violin or trumpet or something else. And I don’t ever want to hear the music teacher telling me you’re not showing up again.” And that’s when I knew, I am the same parent, I have heard this before.

CNN: How would each of you describe that relationship between mother and daughter?

Vanessa: I am lucky to have three daughters who are completely different. I look at my daughters and I have different relationships with all three and there are parts of each personality that are very special. I rely on them for their particular qualities, but I feel happy that I have three completely different opportunities to make my mommy-daughter relationship different.

Helen: And mine was such trial and error before Vanessa was born. I had no skills in diaper changing or feeding or any of the things that you’re required to do as a mother. I enjoyed having a girl — the mother-daughter shopping, dressing up and doing those things together. There’ll be difficult times, especially when girls start growing up, and it’s not easy, but you get through it. You just have to be patient and give them their space and recognize who they are.

CNN: Is there a moment between you two that stands out as unforgettable?

Helen: For me, it was when Vanessa had performed “Kiss of the Spider Woman” on Broadway, because we knew that was one of the things that she wanted to do her entire life. Her high school picture said “I’ll see you on Broadway.” It was something that she’d worked very hard toward. She had some people that did not want her to be on Broadway, and she persisted.

Vanessa: I think one of my mother-daughter memories was at the first state dinner that I attended, when President Reagan invited me to the White House that October as Miss America, and my mother said, “Whatever you do, get the president to sign the menu!” I ended up sitting at his table and trying to think, how am I going to get through this dinner with the president and get him to sign my menu? I listened to him talk about his life in Hollywood and towards the end, I said “Can you please sign this menu for my mother? She will kill me otherwise.” And he very politely did it, and she still has it. The things that you do for your mother!

Helen: But they’re important things.

PostHeaderIcon Para General Electric, Australia es la nueva China

Para General Electric Co., Australia empieza a reemplazar a China.

El país con 22 millones de personas se encamina a generar este año más ingresos para el conglomerado industrial que el gigante asiático, que tiene 1.300 millones de habitantes.

El cambio se deriva en parte de los ajustes que Jeff Immelt, el presidente ejecutivo de GE, ha hecho a las líneas de negocios del conglomerado para hacer hincapié en la energía. Pero también refleja un replanteamiento radical del valor que tiene China para GE, que después de años de no cumplir sus metas y de registrar un crecimiento lento en el país asiático ha volcado su atención a lugares ricos en recursos, con reglas más favorables para la inversión, así como con menos empresas estatales contra las cuales competir.

Inpex/Bloomberg News

El yacimiento de gas Ichthys, en Australia, ha generado contratos millonarios para GE.

GE apuesta a que los precios de la energía y los minerales seguirán en alza y que tendrá menos dificultades para conquistar otros mercados para vender compresores, locomotoras y generadores eléctricos en países que producen petróleo, gas y mineral de hierro. El nuevo enfoque eleva a Canadá, Perú, Mongolia y Australia al círculo de crecimiento potencial una vez dominado por Brasil, Rusia, India y China.

“Estos lugares tienen oportunidades increíbles para Estados Unidos”, señaló este año Immelt en una conferencia en la Universidad de Stanford. “China es grande, pero es un mercado difícil. Estos lugares también son grandes, pero no son tan difíciles”.

Todos los grupos industriales buscan formas de aprovechar las tendencias demográficas globales y China a menudo es parte del cálculo. La estadounidense United Technologies Corp., por ejemplo, busca sacar partido del acelerado desarrollo chino de viviendas a escala masiva a través de sus filiales de ascensores, Otis Elevator, y de calefacción y refrigeración, Carrier.

La alemana Siemens AG, por su parte, ha apuntado a la urbanización desde Shanghai hasta Londres a través de una nueva división dedicada a la infraestructura urbana. Honeywell International Inc., de EE.UU., contrató a un gerente general en Vietnam y planea hacer lo mismo en Indonesia.

GE prevé que los ingresos provenientes de los países ricos en recursos aumenten en hasta 25% durante los próximos dos años, comparado con una tasa de entre 10% y 15% en las economías de China, India y el sudeste asiático.

GE reportó un alza de 26% en los ingresos industriales en Australia en el primer trimestre, comparado con un crecimiento de 18% en China. La cifra, que abarca las ventas de sus negocios de energía, salud y transporte, saltó 40% en Canadá y se duplicó en Rusia, dos países que GE considera ricos en recursos. El año pasado, Australia superó a China en ingresos totales, que sumaron US$5.800 millones frente a los US$5.700 millones de China. GE proyecta que este año ocurrirá lo mismo.

La apuesta de GE es que los precios de las materias primas seguirán subiendo, así que habrá mayores esfuerzos desde Canadá hasta Mongolia para extraer de la tierra combustibles y minerales fósiles. GE espera que las ganancias de la venta de dichos commodities sean reinvertidas en sectores como salud, generación de energía e infraestructura, todos importantes negocios de la empresa.

Un proyecto de gas natural licuado de US$34.000 millones llamado Ichthys, a unos 900 kilómetros de la costa norte de Australia, en el Mar de Timor, ilustra la razón por la que Australia está cabeza a cabeza con China en el universo de GE. Ichthys es uno de varios proyectos que llevará en 2017 a Australia a superar a Qatar como el principal exportador de gas natural licuado del mundo, según la Agencia de Recursos y Economías de Energía de Australia.

El yacimiento, que está siendo desarrollado por la francesa Total SA y la japonesa Inpex Corp., ha producido US$1.100 millones en contratos para GE que incluyen turbinas de gas, compresores y sistemas de producción submarinos. El proyecto Gorgon de Chevron Corp., en la costa noroccidental de Australia, ha generado US$1.300 millones para GE.

El brazo financiero del conglomerado también ha tenido un buen desempeño allí. Australia es el segundo mercado para la filial, después de EE.UU., y GE espera que la operación duplique su tamaño en los próximos tres años. Parte del atractivo de Australia es un sistema judicial confiable y el libre mercado, dicen ejecutivos de GE.

Y aunque a largo plazo GE sigue siendo optimista frente a China, también ha expresado frustración sobre la experiencia de hacer negocios en un lugar donde las empresas estatales son rivales en lugar de socias.

© 2011 Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)

PostHeaderIcon Tymoshenko to end hunger strike

Ukraine's jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko will end her 19-day hunger strike, says her daughter.

Yevgenia Tymoshenko said her mother would be moved to hospital on Wednesday to be treated by a German doctor.

She went on hunger strike accusing prison guards of beating her during an earlier attempt to move her to hospital for treatment for back pain.

Earlier Ukraine postponed a European summit after several leaders announced a boycott over the issue.

The summit was due to be held in in Yalta on 11-12 May, but the presidents of Germany, Austria, Romania and the Czech Republic were among those who cancelled their trips.

There is also a threat that leaders may boycott Euro 2012 football matches in Ukraine next month.

Yulia Tymoshenko is currently in prison in the eastern city of Kharkiv and is refusing to be treated by Ukrainian doctors for her back condition.

She has now agreed to be treated by a German doctor, Lutz Harms, in a local hospital.

Her daughter said the politician "appears to have lost 10kg (22lbs), her temperature has dropped significantly and she may pass out any minute now".

Yulia Tymoshenko's supporters released photographs showing bruises on her body, but prison guards denied allegations that they were responsible.

Yulia Tymoshenko was jailed for seven years in October for abusing her power while she was prime minister.

She is a long-time rival of President Victor Yanukovych whom she helped oust from power in Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution.

He had been elected president in a rigged election. However, in 2010 he staged a political comeback, defeating Ms Tymoshenko in a new presidential election.

© 2011 BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk)

PostHeaderIcon Presidential Election Protest In Egypt Turns Deadly

Story By: Morning Edition

Islamist protesters, unhappy their candidate was among several people disqualified from the election, held a demonstration outside the Defense Ministry. Five people were killed and more than 100 people were wounded in fighting that involved sticks, stones, batons and bullets.

PostHeaderIcon Romney Town Hall Shows Risks Of Handing Voters The Mic

Story By: by Frank James

Mitt Romney poses with a group of supporters at a Euclid, OH town hall-style meeting where some voters didn’t exactly help him keep to his themes.

In an age when presidential campaigns are typically heavily scripted, town-hall style meetings are anything but.

The upside is that you get the informality of the candidate interacting with regular voters as he or she fields their questions and seems accessible. The downside is you never know what a voter handed the microphone will say.

Mitt Romney, who appears well on his way to becoming the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, got a taste of that risk at a Monday event at a Euclid, OH manufacturing company.

A woman with a question accused Obama of taking extraconstitutional actions and asked Romney what he planned to do to “restore balance” between the branches of government. Of course, she also threw into the mix, after being prodded by someone else in the audience, that she thought Obama should be tried for treason.

In his answer, Romney sidestepped the whole treason issue, preferring to ridicule the president for a statement Obama made some weeks back around the time the Supreme Court heard arguments on the health-care law. The president appeared to question the high court’s well-established power to nullify acts of Congress, opening himself up to Romney’s jibes.

Later, when a reporter asked Romney why he hadn’t rejected the woman’s treason- trial comment just as Sen. John McCain four years ago corrected a woman who said Obama was Muslim at a similar event, Romney shook his head, said “no” and added that “I don’t correct all the questions that get asked of me. I obviously don’t agree he should be tried.”

Some of the online response from those defending Romney’s action or inaction falls into the category of “both sides do it.” Some defenders pointed to an unverified report that Romney was called a traitor by someone in the crowd at an Obama campaign rally in Ohio over the weekend.

Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney adviser, tweeted:

Flashback to Sat’s announcement RT @ZekeMillerI’ve heard a handful of shouts of “traitor” re: Romney at the Obama event

To which Stephanie Cutter of the Obama campaign responded:

.@EricFehrn PRESIDENT: “Now, Governor Romney is a patriotic American. He’s raised a wonderful family, and he has much to be proud

Anyway, the Obama campaign saw an opportunity and it took it it. Ben LaBolt, press secretary for Obama for America, tweeted:

“Once again today, @MittRomney stood by silently as his surrogates and supporters made extreme statements & attacked the President’s family”

LaBolt’s mention of family was a reference to a comment by the man who introduced Romney at the event, Ohio auditor Dave Yost. That Buckeye State official criticized the president and first lady Michelle Obama for a trip to New York early in the presidency for a night out on the town.

Yost didn’t stop there. He also belittled Obama’s role in the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, likening the president to a famous fast-food clown.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported this about Yost’s comments:

“A Romney backer, Yost told a crowd of more than 500 that giving the president credit for bin Laden’s death would ‘be like giving Ronald McDonald credit for the Big Mac you had for lunch. Everyone knows it’s the man working the griddle, not the man on TV.’ “

Then there was the man in the audience who asked Romney to explain why he paid taxes abroad.

MAN: “Thanks for taking my question., In this age of tough foreign competition, I think you would agree that we need to invest smart in America to help our country grow and get stronger. Based on that, I’d appreciate your comments on an investing strategy that seems to have resulted in several million dollars of your personal income taxes being paid to foreign countries instead of ours. And I’m referring to page 169 of your 2010 income tax return where you took over $1.5 million in foreign tax credits in ten years. Appreciate your comments.”

ROMNEY: “I’ll look at it. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I didn’t think I paid any foreign income taxes. But I’ll be glad to take a look at it.”

Again, it all goes to show why candidates and campaigns tend to prefer to stick with the script and, yes, even the Teleprompter. Candidates can and do step on their own messages plenty; they don’t need any help from voters in that department.

PostHeaderIcon Bolt speeds to year’s fastest 100 meters

World Record holder Usain Bolt, center left, of Jamaica, crosses the finish line to win the 100m dash of the Jamaica International Invitational track and field meet at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday . (AP)

By REUTERS

Published: May 7, 2012 00:59
Updated: May 7, 2012 01:07

KINGSTON: Jamaican Olympic champion Usain Bolt held his nerve after two false starts by competitors and powered to the year’s fastest 100 meters at the Jamaica International Invitational on Saturday.

The 100 and 200 world record holder clocked a dazzling 9.82 seconds in his first individual race of 2012, exploding from the blocks to take control at 40 meters.

“It’s a good start, I would say,” said Bolt, who erased the previous season-leading time of 9.90 by his training partner and world champion Yohan Blake three weeks ago.

“I feel better than last year, so I’m definitely happy with myself,” Bolt added.

“I don’t think my execution was perfect, but I think for my first race it was good.”

Michael Frater, a member of Jamaica’s world record 4×100 relay team, finished a distant second in exactly 10 seconds.

Bolt was disqualified from last year’s 100 final at the world championships because of a false start, but was not perturbed by the delays.

“A couple of false starts will throw you off, but I stayed focused and went out there and executed as best as possible, so I’m just happy with myself,” he said.

Although pleased with the last 50 meters of the race, the lanky sprinter, who owns world records of 9.58 seconds in the 100 and 19.19 in the 200, said he must continue to work on the first phase of the shorter race.

“I always try to work on my first 40 meters because the last 40 meters is always the best part of my race,” he said. “So over the season as I get more fit and get more fluent it will definitely get better.”

Blake also added a season-leading performance, one of four in the meeting. The world 100 champion clocked 19.91 seconds in the 200.

“Bolt erased my world lead in the 100 so I though I would set a world lead in the 200,” the Jamaican said.

Top performances of the year also came in the women’s 100 and 400.

World champion Carmelita Jeter took the shorter race in 10.81 seconds, finishing ahead of Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad and Tobago, who ran 10.86. Jamaican Olympic silver medallist Kerron Stewart was third in 10.98.

“I feel good with that win,” Jeter said. “I know there’s some things I didn’t do right and I’m sure my coach is going to get on me, but it’s a long season.

“Right now I just have to stay healthy … to stay humble, stay focused … I can’t get ahead of myself, I can’t get big-headed because you never know who is going to show up.”

Jamaican Novelene Williams-Mills, the 2007 world bronze medalist, held off US world indoor champion Sanya Richards-Ross in the last 50 to win the women’s 400 in 49.99 seconds.

Richards-Ross, who had the previous world leader of 50.18, took second in 50.11.

Jamaican Brigitte Foster Hilton, the 2009 world champion who struggled in 2011, appeared to have regained her form in the 100 hurdles, winning in 12.51 seconds.

The time was just 0.02 behind the world leading performance of 12.49 by current world champion Sally Pearson of Australia.

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© 2011 Arab News (www.arabnews.com)

PostHeaderIcon Papers consider coalition’s future

The turmoil in the Conservative Party following Thursday's poor showing in the local elections is the focus for many papers.

The Sunday Telegraph says there is a battle plan to stop the party descending into civil war.

The Sun says Prime Minister David Cameron is ripping up the Queen's Speech, in order to put crime, immigration, and jobs centre stage, in place of less popular ideas such as Lords reform and gay marriage.

The Sunday Express says leaders "ignore Middle Britain at their peril".

Many papers think a more fundamental change is needed than just tinkering with policies.

The Sunday Telegraph says Mr Cameron must spell out his vision for Britain: "If the Big Society is the essence of his thinking he is in trouble because few understand it and even fewer support it," says the paper.

The Sunday Times says the voters' love affair with the coalition is over. It believes people now regard the government as incoherent and incompetent.

The Observer agrees, accusing Mr Cameron of mislaying competence, vision, and values, as he heads a government which appears rudderless.

The lead for The Observer is claims that customs checks aimed at thwarting drugs and arms smugglers have been downgraded, in order to deal with the growing queues at Britain's airports.

A Border Force insider has told the Daily Star Sunday that switching staff to swiping passports means there are no doubts that smugglers are slipping through unchecked.

The Sunday Times says Heathrow is offering a secret service costing £1,800, so that wealthy passengers can avoid waiting at passport control.

The paper says it is raising millions of pounds for the airport operator, BAA, but sometimes means border staff are taken away from their regular duties to assist VIPs.

The Mail on Sunday reports Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman caused confusion among cabinet colleagues by saying she might have to call a joint drought-and-flood summit.

© 2011 BBC News (www.bbc.co.uk)