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India’s Romeo and Juliet tragedy
By Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Phaphunda, India
It was a story buried in the middle of the Indian newspapers.Two star-crossed lovers committed suicide after the local village council, or panchayat, ordered them to annul their marriage or face death. Amreen was Muslim and her husband, Lokesh, a Hindu. Their match was simply unacceptable to their communities. The couple poisoned themselves. Now police have charged the entire panchayat with abetting suicide. ‘Fatal mistake’To find out more, we headed east from Delhi into the north Indian countryside. A little more than two hours later, we found ourselves in the village of Phaphunda.
Like most others in the area, it was small and unremarkable. The villagers, mostly farmers, live in houses built close to each other, with narrow lanes running through them. Horse-carts and cattle amble along – Delhi seems far away. Attitudes here can be unforgiving. I headed first to the house of the village chief, Achan Singh, who heads the village council. A tall, well-built man in his 40s, he was very welcoming, pouring out steaming cups of tea as we sat on his carpet. Yes, he had heard about the incident but no it was not his panchayat that had anything to do with it. “It was a gathering of elders from the two families,” he told me. “The boy and girl were told that their marriage would not be allowed. They would have to leave each other or else they would be killed,” he said in a matter of fact way. Pressed further, Mr Singh sympathised with the couple but said they had made a fatal mistake. “You see, they fell in love and then ran away to get married. They should have stayed away and lived in the city. “In our village, Hindus marry Hindus and Muslims marry Muslims. It’s very sad, what happened but what can you expect? The pressure on their families was enormous. They were being disgraced and dishonoured.” Very nervousOur local contact had arranged for us to meet the family of Amreen, the dead girl. As we left Achan Singh’s house, he said he would join us. He revved up his motorcycle and rode off ahead, while we followed.
When we reached Amreen’s home, the village headman was already there. He had apparently arrived well ahead of us. Her family lived across the highway in a predominantly Muslim part of the village. A mosque was visible over the high walls of her father’s large farmhouse. Inside, buffalo were tethered to posts – he sold milk for a living. “The boy, Lokesh, would come here every morning to buy milk. That’s how he met the girl and they fell in love,” one of the villagers told me. The girl’s father, Salim, soon joined us for a conversation but it was soon apparent that he was very nervous. “I really don’t know what happened,” he kept saying. I asked him if he had come under pressure from the panchayat. “No, no, there was no pressure,” he said hurriedly glancing over his shoulder at the chief. ‘Dishonoured’”Go on, tell them how you were dishonoured in the community,” Achan Singh prompted him gently but firmly.
“We were dishonoured in the community,” repeated Salim. “Neither family wanted them to marry. But no-one threatened them either,” he maintained. The girl’s aunt, Syeda, who had been listening in while tending to her sick mother, decided to speak up. “She was a lovely girl, very innocent and always used to read the Koran. God knows what madness prompted her to run away with that boy. We’re all very sad at what happened.” It was obvious I was going to get little more out of the family so we left and headed to the office of the local policeman for a little more clarity. “We got to hear about the incident and decided to act,” said police superintendent Sharad Sachan. “The young couple were legally married and therefore entitled to live together. Their parents and the villagers had no right to put pressure on them and force them to commit suicide. They are guilty of a crime and we will do all we can to build a case against them.” As we headed back to Delhi, it was clear that with a wall of secrecy descending around the whole incident, the police were going to have their work cut out. They may have the law on their side but the villagers are defending ancient codes and traditions that remain untouched by modernity. And they will fight to keep it that way.

Source:BBC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
President Barack Obama's “reassertion” of U.S. leadership in the Middle East offers a rare opportunity to get peace between Israel and the Palestinians, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said.
In a commentary in The Wall Street Journal on Friday, Mubarak said Obama was willing to take a lead in achieving peace and the Arab world would reciprocate.
“A historic settlement is within reach, one that would give the Palestinians their state and freedom from occupation while granting Israel recognition and security to live in peace,” wrote Mubarak.
“Egypt stands ready to seize that moment, and I am confident that the Arab world will do the same,” he added.
The U.S. State Department welcomed Mubarak's opinion piece and said the Obama administration was fully committed to working with Egypt and others to get a comprehensive peace deal in the Middle East.
“In order for this vision to become a reality all parties in the region must do their part, including Arab states,” said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.
The Bush administration waited until its final years in office to make a concerted effort on Israeli-Palestinian peace and was criticized by many Arabs for doing too little, too late.
SETTLEMENTS STUMBLING BLOCK
Obama's Middle East envoy George Mitchell has traveled four times to the region this year in a bid to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks that were cut off following Israel's invasion of Hamas-run Gaza last December.
Earlier this week, Mitchell was optimistic preparations for full-blown talks would be done soon although one stumbling block has been a dispute over Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
“Israel's relentless settlement expansion, which has seriously eroded the prospects for a two-state solution, must cease, together with its closure of Gaza,” said Mubarak, referring to a blockade by Israel of Gaza which is controlled by the militant group Hamas.
Egypt has been trying to broker a power-sharing deal between the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority and Hamas and Mubarak said the Palestinians must overcome their divisions to achieve their aspirations for statehood.
He said if Israel took “serious steps” toward peace with the Palestinians, the Arab world would do the same.
“The priority should be to resolve the permanent borders of a sovereign and territorially contiguous Palestinian state, based on the 1967 lines, as this would unlock most of the other permanent status issues, including settlements, security, water and Jerusalem,” said Mubarak.
Mubarak praised Obama's speech in Cairo earlier this month, calling it a turning point in U.S. relations with the Muslim world, but also stressing it had to be followed up with “forward-looking” steps.
Obama was criticized by some human rights groups for choosing Cairo as the venue for his speech because of Egypt's own rights record.
Mubarak said Egypt had implemented reforms but conceded more must be done. “We openly acknowledge that this process still has a way to go in fulfilling our aspirations,” he added.
(Reporting by Sue Pleming; Editing by Eric Walsh)

MINNEAPOLIS – As if charging 15 to check a bag weren’t enough, two airlines are asking for 5 more beginning this summer if you pay at the check-in counter — a fee on top of a fee.
Of course, you could always pay your baggage fee from home. The airlines call it the “online discount.”
If airlines can get away with that, what’s next? Rather than raise fares in the middle of a recession, they’re piling on fees to make money — fees for bags, fees to get through the line faster, even fees for certain seats.
United Airlines alone expects to rake in more than 1 billion this year in fees ranging from baggage to accelerated frequent-flier awards. That’s more than 5 percent of its revenue.
The most likely new fees are those that some airline, somewhere, has tried. Fees usually originate with one or two airlines, and competitors watch to see whether passengers accept them or revolt. For instance:
• US Airways and United are hitting passengers up for 5 to pay their baggage fees at the airport instead of online. United implemented the fee June 10, while US Airways will put it into effect July 9.
• If you want to select an exit row seat on AirTran and enjoy the extra legroom, expect to cough up 20.
• Allegiant Air, a smaller national discount airline, charges a 13.50 “convenience fee” for online purchases, even though most other carriers encourage purchases direct from their Web site.
• European discounter Ryanair charges for something everyone has to do if they want to fly: check in. It’s 5 euros, or about 6.75, to check in online, double for passengers who pay at the airport. Ryanair plans to eliminate airport check-in desks.
• Spanish airline Vueling charges a fee to pick a seat. Any seat at all. A “basic” seat behind the wing runs 3 euros. For 30 euros, travelers can choose an aisle or window seat and guarantee that the middle seat will remain empty.
“They need to chill out with those,” said a frustrated Jim Engineer, a public relations executive waiting for a flight out of New York’s LaGuardia. “Charging for a glass of water and seats just translates into unhappy customers.”
As recently as last year, most fliers only came across a fee if they checked three bags or sent a minor child across the country. Most people, most of the time, traveled fee-free.
But that began to change last spring. Spiking jet fuel prices and passenger resistances to higher fares started airlines looking around the cabin for things they could charge extra for.
Passengers are finding it’s a lot easier for the airlines to add the fees than to take them away.
“They’re going to keep nudging them up until they run into market resistance,” said Ed Perkins, a contributing editor at the Web site Smarter Travel.
That’s what happened at US Airways. It tried for seven months to charge for soda and water but gave up in March after no other airlines took up the idea. And Delta scaled back a plan to charge 50 to check a second bag on all international flights. Instead, the charge will apply only on flights to Europe.
United has been a leader in finding ways to charge passengers separately for things. Some are for perks coach travelers used to get for free, like food. Others are new services altogether, like United’s door-to-door luggage service via FedEx.
Airlines say fees are part of “a la carte” pricing that allows them to hold the line on fares. Rather than charge higher fares to everyone, they say, passengers can pick and choose the extras they want to pay for.
Ideas for fees don’t come out of thin air. Last month in Miami most of the big U.S. carriers and many overseas airlines attended a conference devoted to a-la-carte pricing and fees. (Motto, next to a cartoon of an airliner: “Discovering the flying store.”)
Some fees stretch the imagination: The CEO of European discount carrier Ryanair has floated the idea of charging for lavatory use and sick bags. But even he hasn’t gone ahead with what appears to have been a publicity-seeking gambit, and no other carrier has suggested such a charge.
Still, there’s no rule against such a fee in the U.S., according to the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Delta Air Lines Inc. and AirTran Holdings Inc. say they have no plans to tack a fee on to carry-on bags, an idea that would almost certainly annoy passengers just getting used to paying for checked baggage.
It would also put airline workers in the awkward position of deciding whether that bag on your arm is a big purse, presumably free, or a lumpy suitcase. Already, fees for checked bags have made finding space in the overhead bin tougher.
And even if carry-on bags stay free, United is already offering a “Premier Line” check-in for 25. It allows fliers to get through check-in and security faster and board earlier.
That guarantees some of that precious overhead space — so in a way, it’s like a carry-on fee, said Jay Sorensen, president of IdeaWorks Co., an airline consultant who has written a guidebook for airlines seeking “ancillary revenue,” the industry term for fees and extra services such as airline credit cards.
Matthew J. Bennett, CEO of FirstClassFlyer.com, said he thinks travelers in the front of the plane will remain immune from the nickle-and-dime fees airlines aim at coach passengers.
For those in coach, though, “What they are going to charge for in the future is anything that’s not bolted down.”
“They’ve already gotten sufficient revenue from them,” Bennett said. “All they’re saying to coach-class travelers is ‘We really haven’t gotten enough from you.’”
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AP Business Writer Samantha Bomkamp in New York contributed to this report.

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) –
Dutch twin brothers who mugged a teenager in the northern town of Groningen were arrested after being caught on camera by a car gathering images for Google's online photo map service, police said.
The pair stole the 14-year-old boy's mobile phone and 165 euros ($230) in cash last September.
“The picture was taken just a moment before the crime,” a police spokesman said.
In March, the victim recognized himself and the two robbers while surfing Google Maps, which has a “Street View” feature allowing users to see images of buildings. The images are usually taken by a camera mounted on a car.
After an investigation by the police, one of the 24-year-old twins confessed to robbing the boy.
($1=.7183 Euro)
(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde)

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Friday stuck to a measured response to the uprising in Iran over a disputed presidential election, even as both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to condemn an official crackdown on mostly peaceful demonstrations in the streets of Tehran.
Administration officials said they remained convinced that the wiser U.S. course was caution over confrontation. President Barack Obama is coming under growing domestic political pressure to speak out more forcefully in support of protesters warned by Iran’s supreme leader Friday to end their huge street rallies.
In the strongest message yet from the U.S. government, the House voted 405-1 to condemn Tehran’s crackdown on protest rallies and the government’s interference with Internet and cell phone communications. The Senate followed suit later in the day.
The resolution was initiated by Republicans as a veiled criticism of Obama, who has been reluctant to criticize Tehran’s handling of disputed an election that left hard-liner President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.
The resolution expresses support for “all Iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and rule of law” and affirms “the importance of democratic and fair elections.”
It also condemns “the ongoing violence” by the government and pro-government militias against demonstrators, as well as government “suppression of independent electronic communications through interference with the Internet and cell phones.”
Obama’s chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said the White House welcomed the resolution, calling its language consistent with the president’s.
“As the president has said, we’re not going to be used as political foils and political footballs in a debate that’s happening by Iranians in Iran,” Gibbs said. He said the administration’s view is that Iranian leaders would use fiercer U.S. support for the protesters to paint them as puppets of the Americans.
“That’s not what we’re going to do,” Gibbs said.
A long-standing source of Iranian anger at the U.S. is the CIA’s role in toppling the elected government of Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953 and replacing him with the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew the Shah, student militants occupied the U.S. Embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. In April 1980, Washington severed diplomatic relations with Iran.
Obama, who hopes to draw Tehran into talks aimed at curtailing its nuclear ambitions and potentially ending the 29-year-old rupture in diplomatic relations, has stayed mostly neutral on the election dispute. He has spoken in measured terms about supporting Iranians’ aspirations to have their voices heard.
In Tehran, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sternly warned of a crackdown if protesters continue their massive street rallies. In his first response to a week of protests of the disputed election, Khamenei said opposition leaders “will be held accountable for all the violence, bloodshed and rioting” if they do not halt the rallies. Khamenei also said the balloting had not been rigged.
Obama was asked Friday in an interview with CBS News’ Harry Smith what he made of the Khamenei remarks.
“I’m very concerned based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the government of Iran recognize that the world is watching,” Obama said. “And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is — and is not.”
At the State Department, spokesman Ian Kelly said the administration has not been reluctant to criticize Iran.
“There have been times when demonstrators who peacefully assembled have, of course, suffered at the hands of the authorities. And we condemn any actions like that,” Kelly said.
Many lawmakers, however, are calling on the administration to take a tougher approach on Iran.
Rep. Mike Pence, who co-sponsored Friday’s resolution, said he disagrees with the administration that it must not meddle in Iran’s internal affairs.
“When Ronald Reagan went before the Brandenburg Gate, he did not say Mr. (Mikhail) Gorbachev, that wall is none of our business,” said Pence, R-Ind., of former President Ronald Reagan’s famous exhortation to the Soviet leader to “tear down that wall” in a divided Berlin.
Rep. Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and co-sponsor of the resolution, said “it is not for us to decide who should run Iran, much less determine the real winner of the June 12 election.
“But we must reaffirm our strong belief that the Iranian people have a fundamental right to express their views about the future of their country freely and without intimidation,” added Berman, D-Calif.
Congress — particularly the 435-member House — frequently weighs in on foreign policy matters, when a similar message from the State Department or the White House would be considered confrontational. Such resolutions have no practical effect other than to express the opinion of lawmakers and try to influence the administration in power at the time.
Senior administration officials stressed on Friday that Obama intends to stick to his current approach. They said the administration is considering what they might do if Iran’s clerical regime does use force to shut down demonstrations. The officials spoke with a small group of reporters about the administration’s strategy on condition of anonymity to more freely describe internal White House deliberations.
The administration’s view is that a measured U.S. response gives the protesters and their quest for greater freedoms a larger — rather than smaller — chance of succeeding, the officials said.
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Associated Press writer Jennifer Loven contributed to this report.

US admits Afghan airstrike errors
Failure by US forces to follow their own rules was the “likely” cause of civilian deaths in Afghan airstrikes last month, a US military report says.US officials investigated seven strikes on Taliban targets in Farah province on 4 May, and concluded that three had not complied with military guidelines. The report accepts that at least 26 civilians died, but ackowledges that the real figure could be much higher. The Afghan government has said 140 civilians were killed in the strikes. Washington and Kabul have been at loggerheads for weeks over the number of civilians killed in the incident. The US report defends the Farah operation, saying the use of force “was an appropriate means to destroy that enemy threat”.
“However, the inability to discern the presence of civilians and avoid and/or minimise accompanying collateral damage resulted in the unintended consequence of civilian casualties,” the report says. It says the final three strikes of the engagement, which took place after dark, did not adhere to “specific guidance” in the controlling directive. “Not applying all of that guidance likely resulted in civilian casualties,” the report says. It concedes that the precise number of civilians killed in the attack may never be known because many victims were buried before the investigation started. The document makes a number of recommendations to reduce the likelihood of civilian deaths. It says lines of communication must be improved, new guidelines should be introduced and personnel need to be retrained. Gen Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, is currently reviewing US rules in relation to airstrikes. He said last month that US forces should use them only if the lives of Nato personnel or American troops were clearly at risk. Both Nato and US have have insisted that avoiding civilian casualties is their priority in all battles.

Source:BBC

A rundown of baggage fees at major U.S. airlines:
_American Airlines, AirTran Airways, Continental Airlines: 15 for the first checked piece of luggage, 25 for the second.
_Alaska Air: Passengers traveling on tickets purchased before May 1, or for travel before July 7, can check one bag for free. The second bag is 25. Beginning July 7, Alaska is adding a 15 charge for the first bag.
_Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines: 15 for the first, 25 for the second. For international tickets, the first two checked bags are still free. But for flights to Europe, Delta and Northwest are adding a 50 charge for the second checked bag beginning with tickets bought May 23 for travel beginning July 1.
_JetBlue Airways: First bag is free, 20 for the second.
_Southwest Airlines: First two bags are free.
_United Airlines: 15 for the first, 25 for the second, if paid online. If paid at the airport, United adds an extra 5 for tickets purchased beginning May 14.
_US Airways: 15 for the first, 25 for the second. Beginning with flights on July 9, US Airways will add 5 if the fee is paid at the airport for tickets purchased beginning April 23.
Note: All charges are for domestic flights, except where noted for Delta. The charges generally don’t apply to first-class or business-class travelers, high-level frequent fliers and some other categories of passengers, such as active-duty military personnel.
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Source: Airline Web sites

Tickets go on sale to the general public June 19. Previously announced for the Robert Longbottom-directed revival are rising Hollywood star Nolan Gerard Funk as the hip-swiveling Conrad Birdie; John Stamos (“ER,” Nine) as his manager, Albert; Gina Gershon (Boeing-Boeing) as Albert's girlfriend Rosie; Tony Award winner Bill Irwin (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) as Harry MacAfee; Dee Hoty (Will Rogers Follies) as Mrs. MacAfee; and Jayne Houdyshell (Well) as Albert's mother, Mae;
Allie Trimm (13) as bobby-soxer Kim MacAfee; Matt Doyle (Spring Awakening) as teen Hugo Peabody; Molly Ephraim (Fiddler on the Roof) as teen Ursula Merkle; and Jake Evan Schwencke as little brother Randolph MacAfee.
The complete cast (announced June 19) will include Deanna Cipolla, Paula Leggett Chase, Riley Costello, John Treacy Egan, Colleen Fitzpatrick, Todd Gearhart, Patty Goble, Suzanne Grodner, Robert Hager, Nina Hennessey, Natalie Hill, Julia Knitel, Jess Le Protto, David McDonald,
Jillian Mueller, Paul Pilcz, Daniel Quadrino, Devin Richards, Emma Rowley, Tim Shew, Kevin Shotwell, Alison Strong, Jim Walton, Brynn Williams and Branch Woodman.
Longbottom (Side Show, Dreamgirls on tour in 2009) will direct and choreograph. Bye Bye Birdie, which has a book by Michael Stewart, music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, will begin Sept. 10 toward an opening night of Oct. 15. This will be a limited engagement through Jan. 10, 2010.
Here's how Roundabout bills the American classic from 1960: “In Bye Bye Birdie, the exuberant rock 'n' roll musical comedy, it's 1960 and hip-swingin' teen idol superstar Conrad Birdie (Funk) has been drafted into the army. Birdie's manager Albert (Stamos) and his secretary Rosie (Gershon) have cooked up a plan to send him off with a swell new song and one last kiss from a lucky teenage fan on 'The Ed Sullivan Show'!”
Henry Miller's Theatre, a brand-new theatre theatre that retains the faade and the name of a historic theatre of the same location, is at 124 West 43rd Street.
Bye Bye Birdie received the 1961 Tony Award for Best Musical and features such songs as “Put on a Happy Face,” “Kids,” “Spanish Rose,” “Talk to Me,” “The Telephone Hour” and “A Lot of Livin' to Do.”
Bye Bye Birdie's design team includes Andrew Jackness (sets), Gregg Barnes (costumes), Ken Billington (lights), Acme Sound (sound) and David Chase (music supervisor).
Funk, a former gymnast, is heard on the hot-selling soundtrack for “Spectacular!” and has a song – “Break My Heart” – on the Billboard charts. He has made numerous guest-starring appearances on TV series including “The L Word,” “Smallville,” “Supernatural,” “Lie to Me” and a recurring role on “Aliens in America.” He most recently played an elitist prep school murderer on ABC's “Castle.” He is a spokesperson for Nickelodeon's “The Big Green Help” and has publicly supported the charity organization Champions Against Bullying.
Bye Bye Birdie will play Tuesday through Saturday evening at 8 PM with Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 PM.
Tickets were available exclusively to American Express Card members beginning June 3 online at www.byebyebirdieonbroadway.com or by phone at (212) 239-6200. Ticket prices range from 86.50-136.50.
Visit www.byebyebirdieonbroadway.com or call (212) 239-6200 for tickets.
To become a Roundabout subscriber visit www.roundabouttheatre.org or call Roundabout Ticket Services (212) 719-1300.

Wallkill, N.Y. –
I was conceived in the era before ultrasound. The doctors thought I was a boy because my heartbeat was strong. Everyone had some quick adjustments to make when I arrived in the delivery room as a girl. My dad, a seminary student at the time, explained my unexpected sex change in the church bulletin as “God having other plans.”
It became clear that God also had a sense of humor when two more daughters followed and my dad found himself surrounded. We had a hobby farm, with a few dogs, some sheep, two calves, and a few horses. Even our pets were female. Dad was sorely outnumbered, but fortunately had a good nature that even saw him through the years of raising three emotive teenage daughters.
My dad worked hard and was often late for dinner, but he prized family above anything else he could provide. He taught me that friends come and go, but family is forever.
When we were little, my sisters and I would visit him at work, first pressing our noses to the glass window outside his office to see if he had time to see us. He would look up from behind his desk and break into a big smile. That was the signal for us to scramble into the building and down the hall to his office.
He would meet us at his doorway, crouch down and wrap us up in a bear hug. As a daughter, I never felt so safe as when those big arms were around me. My own daughter is now 11, and she and her 9-year-old brother get those same swallowing hugs from their grandpa.
I have great memories of hard-earned family vacations – camping, cross-country road trips, and ice-fishing adventures. Dad used these times to pass along to us the essential skills of life. I can still remember the slippery feel of fish guts on my cold fingers as Dad taught me to clean our catch with his hand-carved filet knife.
He challenged me to get outdoors and to be a full participant in life. I can remember when I became a teenager and didn't think it was cool to be life's participant. I pouted my way through many outings – entire vacations even – with a bad attitude and disrespectful words. My dad may have been at his wit's end, but he was there through all of it.
As a grown woman, I'm not afraid of snakes or guts or getting dirty. I now know that teenage hormones run their course and that bad feelings pass with time, when someone loves you through them.
As a child, my dad could fix just about anything – a bicycle tire, a leaky faucet, and bad grammar on my English essay. He had a way of solving problems, or re-stating things so they didn't feel like problems anymore.
He taught me that “happy was my choice” and framed a poem for me on the subject to remind me. Some things he wasn't able to fix. Like the time when I was 15 and my horse became so sick that I couldn't ride her anymore. Like the time years later when I went through a divorce, and came home to cry.
My dad woke up at 3 a.m. and met me at the kitchen table. He just knew. I learned from him that some things can't be fixed once broken, and then it's just best to share your pain together.
There are few stronger influences in a daughter's life than the role of a father. Some cultures say that it is the father that calls forth the identity of his daughter and provides her the confidence to meet the challenges of life.
If I have strong relationships, it is because my dad taught me that you don't give up on those you care about. If I am determined, it is because my dad showed me that you can make a difference if you persevere. If I am happy, it has a lot to do with a father who showed me that life sometimes presents what you don't expect, and that how you respond is up to you.
Looking back, I say my heartbeat was strong, even from the womb, because my dad loved me with a great love. He taught me that love isn't something you do, but who you are.
Fast-forward almost four decades. On this Father's Day, my dad will be surrounded by my mom, his three daughters, our spouses, and eight grandchildren. When my middle sister delivers this fall, my dad will have the nine grandchildren he always wanted (enough for a baseball team). And thanks to this era of high-definition ultrasounds, we already know that then, the boys in our family will outnumber the girls.
Angela Kays-Burden is a licensed master social worker.

Los Angeles (E! Online) –
• It's rare when Disney kids get to experience real life so Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez used a Toronto trip to crash a high school prom last night: “Totally crashing a prom with selena, jman, jasmine, marissa, priscilla and michael UNRECOGNIZED!!!!!!!!! Hahahaha we finally we got to go to a prom!!!!!!! Hahahahahahahhaa” Mandatory preprom picture.
• Tony Hawk was invited to the White House, and he used the opportunity to skateboard down the hallways because Ashton Kutcher told him to. When the Twitter King orders you to do something, you do it and you tweet it. That's an official rule, it's in the Twitter terms.
• As mentioned yesterday, Paris Hilton is inspired by Angelina Jolie. Well, today after documenting her Dubai press, Paris did something with that overwhelming sense of inspiration: “I am so blessed & because I am I want to make the world a better place. Pls follow @interfaceorg working to achieve the Millennium Goals.” Aw, she's just like Angie!
• Elizabeth Taylor continues to be awesome: “Life without earrings is empty!”
• FYI, Lindsay Lohan, World Refugee Day is tomorrow: “Fyi- today is World Refugee Day…” It's OK, we understand, someone probably just hacked your Twitter and then sent Ryan Seacrest that True Blood tweet.
• Samantha Ronson would like to explain why she always looks like she's having the worst time of her life while deejayng: “To the idiots who tell me I 'look so bored' when I'm working- do u sit at work with an excited look on your face?I'm concentrating a–hole.”
Speaking of work, follow fruits of our labor on Twitter @eonline.
··· THEY SAID WHAT? Get today's most commented stories now at www.eonline.com

A bit of music history was lost Friday morning when flames gutted the Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia.
The Georgia Theatre in Athens, Georgia, smolders after firefighters put out a morning blaze.
The 19th-century building was a cornerstone in the alternative rock music scene that gave the world the B-52s, R.E.M. and the Indigo Girls, said Doc Eldridge, president of the local Chamber of Commerce. The theater, in downtown Athens near the University of Georgia campus, suffered heavy damage from the fire, which was discovered at 7 a.m., according to Athens-Clarke County government spokeswoman Sandy Turner. “The facade is still there, but it’s very bad,” she said. “From the big names to the no names, countless of musicians and groups have left their mark on the Athens music scene from the stage of the Georgia Theatre,” Eldridge said. iReport: Photos of theater burning Sheffy McArthur was a University of Georgia student when he and two friends converted the movie theater into a music venue in 1978. “The B-52s paid us to play there, imagine that,” McArthur said. Sea Level, a blues-jazz-rock group that grew from the remnants of the Allman Brothers Band, played the first show in the theater in January 1978, McArthur said. It became the place “for alternative music, instead of cover-type stuff for real artists to play,” he said. Wilmont Greene took over the theater five years ago and began renovations. R.E.M., which formed in Athens in 1980 and became one of the first popular alternative bands, played in the 600-seat theater in the group’s early days. In recent years, the theater served as host for album release parties and benefit shows by R.E.M., which is based in a building just down the street. “All of us here certainly wish Wilmont Greene and his staff the best of luck and Godspeed in their efforts to rebuild the Athens landmark,” an R.E.M. statement said.
Source:CNN

Reza Sayah is one of the few Western journalists reporting from Tehran after the Iranian government placed restrictions on coverage.
A man in the crowd holds up a photo of Ahmadinejad during Khamenei’s address at Friday prayers.
TEHRAN, IranPeople in the crowd sang songs of tribute as they waited. When he arrived, they stood and welcomed him in unison: “Praise be to God and to his prophet, Mohammed.” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader for two decades, took the stage with a few notes on small pieces of paper in his left hand. He leaned on the lectern with his right arm, crippled in an 1981 assassination attempt. He was ready to put an end to a week of unrest. First, a sermon about the dangers of division and disunity, using the language of Islam. Then came secular sentences, decidedly direct. He praised the huge turnout at the polls as a victory for Iran but criticized post-election turmoil as the work of Iran’s enemiesthe United States, Israel and Britain. “The enemies want to destroy our confidence. They want to create doubt about the election,” Khamenei said. A full hour passed before he delivered a verdict that supporters of opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi did not want to hear. “Eleven million votes difference?” he asked. “Sometimes there’s a margin of one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand, or one million, maximum. Then one can doubt, be concerned that there has been some rigging or manipulation.
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“But there’s a difference of 11 million votes. How can vote rigging happen?” To be clear, he reminded the crowd of the victor at the polls. It was the man sitting in the front row: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad. He was the “the absolute victor,” Khamenei said. “If political elites want to ignore or break the law and willy-nilly take wrong measures which are harmful, they will be held accountable for all violence andblood and rioting.” Few in the crowd were disappointed with the cleric’s words. “Death to America!” the people chanted repeatedly, interrupting Khamenei’s speech. “Death to Israel.” Noticeably absent Friday was Moussavi, the man who had sparked Iran’s unrest by calling for a recount of the votes. Absent, too, were Moussavi’s supporters, who did not take to the streets to protest as they had done in previous days. There were no signs and placards on the streets. Or people clamoring for change.
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The tens of thousands who showed up for Friday prayer were a stark contrast to the demonstrators. They were mostly religious conservatives, supporters of Ahmadinejad. And they had a message for the president’s opponent, though it was not always consistent. Some were conciliatory. “The nation should come together,” one said. “We are all one.” Others took a hard line: “They must stop with the demonstrations, otherwise there will be consequences.”
Just what those consequences might be may become apparent Saturday afternoon, when the demonstrators are expected again on the streets of Tehran. But for now, Iran’s supreme leader had issued his warning clearly: Enough is enough.
Source:CNN

“Millions voted for President Ahmadinejad and that makes the elections definitive,” declared Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Akbar Khamenei during his Friday sermon.
Iran’s Grand Ayatollah leads Friday prayers with President Ahmadinejad behind him (whte jacket).more photos »
With these simple words addressing Muslim worshippers, he ended speculations about his position following a week of pro-opposition demonstrations claiming vote-rigging and denouncing their candidate Mir Hossein Moussavi’s defeat. Iran’s Supreme Leader delivered his much-anticipated speech from Tehran University. It was at that same university in 1979 that the Shah’s Savak, the most despised and feared security police at the time, opened fire on a student demonstration sparking the Islamic revolution which led to the overthrow of the Iranian monarchy. Tehran University was also the scene where more than 1,000 Iranian students clashed with police and religious hard-liners in 1999. The pro-opposition demonstrations across Iran in the past week and their bloody clashes with police, served as a reminder to many in Iran and outside of those two fateful events. During his Friday sermon, the supreme leader reassured devout Iranians that the Islamic republic is well, rejecting claims of vote-rigging and assuring his audience that the state “will not bow to the pressure of the street protests.” Arab countries have been watching the latest events in Persian Iran with much anticipation as well. Arab media were quick to report and analyze the post-election momentum and its ramification to their readers and viewers. Tariq Hamed, editor in chief of the London-based Asharq Alawsat newspaper, wrote an opinion editorial suggesting that the situation in Iran sent a strong signal that “the battle has just started.”
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He explained in his article that the Iranian standoff is far more complicated than vote count and that “the clash is a sharp collision in the main foundations of the Iranian revolution.” In the Saudi-owned Al-Hayat newspaper, columnist Abdullah Iskandar wondered whether Iranian protesters had “a real vote in the Ayatollah’s world?” He said that Iranian official media still refer to the protesters as hooligans carrying out a western conspiracy against the regime. In the Palestinian-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Sobhi Hadidi says Iran is changing and the signs are obvious in the demonstrators’ banners on both sides. Moussavi’s supporters are asking “Where is my vote?” he says; while Ahmadinejad staunch backers are pledging their “full obedience to the leader (Khamenei).” Hadidi then adds: “Amazingly, the popular mood has indeed changed, and Iran is pregnant with change, seeking a new identity.” Hadidi’s conclusion is that at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whose voices are louder because, “the votes will end up at the doorsteps of the Grand Ayatollah. That’s where everything begins and ends.” The Iranian-backed Lebanese militia, Hezbollah was just defeated in parliamentary elections. The group’s Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, expressed recently his full support of in Ahmadinejad and promised that “nothing has changed in Lebanon” and “no winds of change will be blowing from Iran.” Nasrallah dismissed Iranian divisions and advised Arabs to avoid commenting on the issue because he said they’re ill-informed. “No one in the Arab world understands how Iran operates” he blasted in a recent speech. He reassured his pro-Ahmadinejad audience that “Iran will overcome this crisis with ease.” In a confident tone he concluded, “People around the world will be very disappointed if they believe otherwise.” Hezbollah’s support could have been expressed in more than words. According to many media reports and Online chatter, Iran’s volunteer paramilitary forces known as ‘Basij’, seem to have added some Arabic-speaking memberssuspected of being Hezbollah fighters. According to these reports, non-Farsi speakers are riding motor scooters and patrolling the streets of Tehran, tracking demonstrators and monitoring their movement.
No matter how long the Iranian election fallout will last or which direction it will take in the next days and weeks, Arabs across the Middle East will keep a close eye on all developments as they unfold. Linked by geography and political, economic and security interests, they will continue to watch as Iranians demonstrate and make history.
Source:CNN

Bats avoid flying by streetlight
Streetlights may make it easier for humans to travel by road, but they could cause a problem for “commuting” bats, say researchers.Scientists have found that, as bats travel to feeding grounds, they avoid hedgerows illuminated by streetlights. Reporting in the journal Current Biology, they say this could cause bats to use longer and less safe routes. The researchers studied the effect with artificial lights along flight routes used by lesser horseshoe bats.
Emma Stone, a biologist from Bristol University, UK, who led the study, placed the experimental lights along hedgerow-lined flight-paths used by the bats when they leave their colonies. These lights mimicked the colour and intensity of ubiquitous sodium streetlights, which are used throughout the world. “The magnitude of the effect was surprising,” said Professor Gareth Jones, one of the authors of the study. “With the lights on, there was about a quarter to an eighth of the activity – or number of bats flying along the route – compared to when the lights were off.” Professor Jones explained that, although the bats have sensitive hearing, which they rely on for navigation, it is not tailored to help them avoid predators. “Echolocation is of limited value for detecting predators, because the high frequencies they use are directional, and limited in range,” he said. This means the bats are vulnerable to attack from birds of prey if they fly in lit conditions. Avoiding predators, Professor Jones said, was probably the main reason why bats were nocturnal. And relatively slow-flying lesser horseshoe bats, in particular, seem to be “hard-wired” to avoid light. The researchers suggest this finding could be considered in conservation measures; light could be deviated away from commuting routes with trees and sheltered areas near colonies.

Source:BBC

JACKSON, Miss. – A federal judge says actor Morgan Freeman and the woman suing him over a car wreck should submit settlement proposals to the court by July 15.
Demaris Meyer claims the 71-year-old Oscar-winning actor was negligent when the car he was driving ran off the side of a rural Mississippi highway in August. Meyer was a passenger in the car when it flipped several times. Both of them were seriously injured.
Freeman’s attorney has said in court papers that Meyer shares blame for the accident.
The judge set the deadline on Wednesday. Such deadlines are common in federal civil cases and don’t necessarily indicate the sides will agree.
U.S. Magistrate S. Allan Alexander has scheduled a July 29 conference on the case in U.S. District Court in Oxford.

LOS ANGELES – CBS says Academy Award-winning actress Linda Hunt is joining the cast of the new fall drama “NCIS: Los Angeles.”
The network said Friday that Hunt will play a tough, efficient department manager who gets government investigators the electronics and other crime-fighting tools they need.
“NCIS: Los Angeles” is a spinoff of the long-running CBS drama “NCIS.” The new show stars Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J as members of a Naval Criminal Investigative Service division that goes after criminals who pose a threat to national security.
Hunt won an Oscar for her role in 1982′s “The Year of Living Dangerously.” Her TV credits include “The Practice” and “Without a Trace.”

DETROIT – Jim Leyland will be sticking around in the Detroit dugout for awhile.
The Tigers gave their manager a two-year contract extension Friday through the 2011 season. Financial terms were not announced.
“It’s extremely well deserved,” Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski said.
The 64-year-old Leyland is in his fourth season with the Tigers, and this was the last year on his deal. Detroit was leading the AL Central with a 35-31 record going into Friday night’s game against Milwaukee.
“I’m thrilled they want me to continue,” the three-time manager of the year said. “I was thrilled they asked me to come here in the first place.”
The Tigers went a disappointing 74-88 last year, and Leyland wasn’t offered an extension after the season.
On Friday, Leyland was stretched on a couch that folds out into a bed in his office at Comerica Park, smoking a cigarette and having a cup of coffee, when he got the good news.
“I was totally shocked,” he said.
Leyland spent the night in his office after the Tigers got in late Thursday night from a three-game series at St. Louis. He lives in a Detroit hotel during the season.
Dombrowski usually travels with the team, but hasn’t been on the last three trips because he was watching the Tigers’ minor leaguers. He came down to Leyland’s office in the morning and, after they discussed a few things, offered Leyland the extension.
“I just think it was the right time to step forward and get this done,” Dombrowski said.
Leyland had a 292-260 record with the Tigers going into Friday night’s game. He guided Detroit to a surprising AL pennant in 2006 and was voted AL Manager of the Year.
But after going 95-67 to reach the World Series, the Tigers dipped to 88-74 in 2007 and tumbled last year.
Leyland managed 14 years in the majors before coming to Detroit. He led the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1986-96, the Florida Marlins in 1997-98 (winning the World Series in ’97) and the Colorado Rockies in 1999.
He was the NL Manager of the Year in 1990 and 1992.

The Nation — This post was written by Sarah Jaffe, a blogger, freelance journalist and Nation intern.
Healthcare reform is on everyone's mind these days. President Obama has repeatedly stressed his desire to bring all interested parties to the table to discuss the options, and even the insurance companies and the American Medical Association seem ready to play along.
Yet the one group that has been mostly shut out of the discussions is the single-payer healthcare crowd. When medical practitioners who advocate for single-payer arrived at Senator Max Baucus's health care roundtables, some of them were even arrested.
A single-payer health care system, or “Medicare for all,” in which the government would take the place of insurance companies in paying for care, and which would be funded by taxes rather than premium payments, is how Canada and most of Europe provides care. As Senator Bernie Sanders said in an interview with The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel,
” [T]he only way you're gonna provide comprehensive, universal, and cost-effective healthcare to every man, woman, and child in this country is through a single-payer system. That's just a simple reality. And the reason for that is that to pay for universal comprehensive healthcare you have to deal with the enormous amount of waste that is currently within the private health insurance industry. The estimate is about 400 billion a year in administrative costs, in billing, in profits, in CEO compensation, in advertising–all of those things which have nothing to do with the provision of healthcare…”
Single-payer health care would not only cut the endemic waste in our current for-profit health care system, but it would provide true coverage for all citizens regardless of income level. In addition, it could provide economic benefits to stimulate the broader economy. According to a study by the National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association, switching to a single-payer system would:
1. Create 2,613,495 million new permanent good-paying jobs (slightly exceeding the number of jobs lost in 2008) — and jobs that are not easily shipped overseas
2. Boost the economy with 317 billion in increased business and public revenues
3. Add 100 billion in employee compensation
4. Infuse public budgets with 44 billion in new tax revenues
Health care costs are one of the major debts weighing down the auto companies, driving them steadily toward bankruptcy, and a reason that cars built in Japan–or Canada–are cheaper than those built in the US. As Morton Mintz wrote in The Nation in 2004, single-payer health care would be good for business as well. But most importantly, it would be a system that could focus on health care, not health insurance.
Senator Sanders and a few other visionary progressives in Congress are continuing to fight for single-payer health care. They need your help. Please sign Sanders' petition urging Congress to pass a bill that would provide “quality, comprehensive health care for all Americans” and tell your elected reps you expect them to do the same.
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FRESNO, Calif. – By one of the biggest margins in California’s rich initiative history, voters decreed last year that egg-laying hens must be able to stretch their wings without touching another bird or a cage wall.
But the details of the new animal welfare law are bedeviling egg farmers.
Some are even rumored to be breeding hens with shorter wings, a tactic producers deny with a laugh.
And a newly introduced bill in Sacramento would require competing farmers in other states to adopt California’s standards if they want to sell eggs in the Golden State.
California’s egg producers say they don’t know how to comply with the vague language of the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, short of allowing hens to range free.
“We aren’t about to invest millions without black and white standards that talk about stocking densities, height and width,” Modesto egg producer Jill Benson said.
Benson operates three barns, each the size of a football field, that house 500,000 hens in wire cages.
Industrywide, chickens are now provided an average space the size of an 8-by-11 sheet of paper.
The new regulations approved in November don’t take effect until 2015, but the egg fight has already come to roost in the state Capitol, where lawmakers are being lobbied by producers to clarify the requirements and address the added cost to meet them.
“You still have an industry in denial,” state Sen. Dean Florez, chairman of the Food and Agriculture Committee, told The Associated Press after a hearing this week.
Though last year’s ballot measure didn’t specifically call for cage-free hen houses, the Humane Society of the United States admittedly sponsored and wrote it so no currently available cage systems could meet the requirements.
“Cage-free was what we were talking about,” said Jennifer Fearing, who guided the Proposition 2 campaign for the organization.
In a 63.5 percent landslide last November, eight million voters decided the state’s 19.4 million confined, egg-laying hens must have room to stand up, turn around and extend their wings.
California egg ranchers contend the requirements will add a penny to the cost of every egg and could put them out of business as they try to compete with operations in other states that don’t face the same rules.
California ranchers are seeking ways to keep their hens in cages and still comply with the law. They say caging systems make it easier and more cost effective to feed hens, keep them clean and collect their eggs.
“The question is how much space” chickens must have, Debbie Murdock, executive director of the United Egg Producers, said on the group’s Web site.
The recently introduced bill in Sacramento would require out-of-state producers who supply more than half of the 10 billion eggs consumed by Californians each year to treat their laying hens as well as Golden State producers.
California’s 300 million egg industry, the fifth largest in the nation, warned in ballot arguments that passage of Proposition 2 would require hens to live outdoors.
The Humane Society countered the industry should have little trouble adapting since it already has its own guidelines for farmers who choose to raise hens cage-free. The guidelines call for perches, scratching areas and nests for chickens living in flocks.
“Now that Prop 2 is law, the egg industry is trying to punch a hole in it, undo the will of the voters,” Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle wrote in a statement to the AP.
Meanwhile, restaurant chains such as Burger King and Wendy’s have started using more cage-free eggs at the urging of the society.
Society officials say cage-free hens could position California farmers to dominate the fast-growing specialty egg market, which accounts for about 5 percent of nationwide sales.
“California egg producers will never win the race to the cheapest egg, because Iowans live closer to the grain,” Fearing said. “But they can win the race to the most highly valued egg.”

Police examine Lib Dems donation
Police are investigating money laundering allegations over the Liberal Democrats’ acceptance of 2.4m from a donor later convicted of fraud.Michael Brown’s donation hugely boosted the party’s 2005 election campaign, the BBC’s Newsnight programme said. Mr Brown was convicted of fraud in 2008 but vanished before being sentenced to seven years in jail last month. The party said its auditors were “satisfied that we do not need to make provision for repayment”. Mr Brown’s victims say the Liberal Democrats were using their stolen money. Now one of them, Robert Mann, who is already suing the party to get it back, has instructed his lawyers to ask police to investigate whether the party breached the 2002 Proceeds of Crime Act. Mr Mann, himself a tax lawyer in California, told Newsnight: “The money was used by Mr Brown for something totally opposite to what the purpose of the investment was.
“The monies, as we found out, or a big part of them, wound up with the Liberal Democrats, and in my mind anybody that did even a modicum of checking would have known that these monies belonged to me and not to Mr Brown. “It’s absolutely shocking how any major political party or any political party in England wouldn’t want to return monies that are clearly stolen, absolutely traceable to me personally, and the individual that gave them the money is now a convicted felon.” City of London Police have confirmed to Newsnight that they have received a complaint against the Liberal Democrats and are still looking into it. They hope to speak to Mr Mann and his lawyers shortly before deciding whether to launch a full investigation. The head of the economic crime unit, detective chief superintendent Stephen Head, said: “On the face of it they seem to be serious allegations.” A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: “All our donations from 5th Avenue Partners were received in good faith and were properly spent on the general election campaign. “Our auditors have seen our legal advice on this matter and are satisfied that we do not need to make provision for repayment.”

Source:BBC

US President Barack Obama has warned Iran that “the world is watching”, after its supreme leader criticised voters who protested over the election.Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said opposition leaders would be blamed for further “bloodshed” if protests did not stop. President Obama said that the way the authorities dealt with people who were “trying to be heard” would send a message to the international community. More protests are due on Saturday as poll officials meet losing candidates. The Guardian Council – Iran’s main electoral authority – has invited Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezai to discuss their objections to the poll. President Obama, who has previously said he did not want to be seen to be meddling in Iran’s affairs, told broadcaster CBS: “I’m very concerned based on some of the tenor and tone of the statements that have been made, that the government of Iran recognise that the world is watching.
“And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to be heard will, I think, send a pretty clear signal to the international community about what Iran is and is not.” Earlier, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs had said the protests were “extraordinary” and “courageous”. In Washington, the House of Representatives voted 405-1 for a statement supporting democratic and fair elections, condemning the “ongoing violence” and the Iranian government’s “suppression of independent electronic communications through interference with the internet and cell phones”. Iran has seen repeated opposition rallies since the presidential result was declared last Saturday. Amnesty International says it believes about 10 people have been killed. The official results gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 63% of the vote against 34% for his main election rival, Mr Mousavi. President Obama continues to tread a fine line in commenting on Iran – anxious not to be seen as interfering nor to fuel anti-American sentiment, says the BBC’s Jonathan Beale in Washington. Although his comment in the CBS interview could be seen as his strongest warning so far, many Republicans still believe he has been been far too cautious. ‘Political earthquake’In his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei criticised Western governments for their reaction to the re-election of President Ahmadinejad. Ayatollah Khamenei hit out at what he called the arrogant powers, and media leaders in the United States and some European countries who, he said, had shown their true faces. He said the election was a “political earthquake” for Iran’s enemies – singling out Britain as “the most evil of them” – whom he accused of trying to foment unrest in the country. “Some of our enemies in different parts of the world intended to depict this absolute victory, this definitive victory, as a doubtful victory,” the supreme leader said. In a stern warning to protesters, he called on them to stop and said their political leaders would be blamed for any violence. Responding to allegations of electoral fraud, the ayatollah insisted the Islamic Republic would not cheat. “There is 11 million votes difference,” the ayatollah said. “How can one rig 11 million votes?” Correspondents say the tone points to heavy crackdowns if the protests continue.

Source:BBC

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) –
R&B legend Allen Toussaint has done with his music what America has been forced to do since Hurricane Katrina laid waste to his hometown — take a new look at what is in danger of fading away.
His new album is a collection of New Orleans classics such as “St. James Infirmary” and songs from outside the Big Easy that Toussaint reworked into the style he grew up hearing, like Thelonious Monk's “Bright Mississippi,” from which the album takes its name, “The Bright Missisippi.”
The result is a departure from 1960s and '70s Rhythm & Blues and pop tunes for which the 71-year-old pianist and composer is famous, hits such as Lee Dorsey's “Working in a Coal Mine” and the Rolling Stones' “Fortune Teller.”
But if the album differs from Toussaint's best-known work, it couldn't be closer to his roots in New Orleans, a city undergoing a slow recovery from the 2005 hurricane. There, the traditions of marching bands and jazz funerals have endured.
“There's been a resurgence of this kind of music,” Toussaint said. “Also, I'm very glad about the New Orleans traditional jazz brass bands who help keep this genre alive, even though it's a little rougher than what we're doing on this particular album.”
The soft-spoken Toussaint recently spoke with Reuters by phone before heading on tour to St. Paul, Minnesota, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Calgary, where on June 22 he headlines a jazz festival with Big Easy stalwarts, Dirty Dozen Brass Band.
LEADING LIGHTS OF JAZZ
“The Bright Mississippi” is filled with performances by leading lights of today's jazz scene, including clarinetist Don Byron, who joins Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Toussaint for the trip through old New Orleans with the song, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”
In a bit of musical irony, Toussaint's new songs offer his fans a fresh look at older tunes such as “Egyptian Fantasy” penned by jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet and “Winin' Boy Blues” from the masterful Jelly Roll Morton.
The idea for “The Bright Mississippi” came from long-time collaborator Joe Henry, who also produced Toussaint's 2006 record with Elvis Costello, “The River In Reverse.”
Katrina, and the bungled response to the natural disaster, loomed large over “River,” which debuted at the first New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival after the storm.
But now Toussaint, whose own house was destroyed in the flooding that followed the hurricane, is optimistic about the city's recovery and the state of its music scene.
While musicians have struggled — many still live hours outside the city and return to play — efforts like the Musicians Village, spearheaded by singer Harry Connick Jr., and other programs have been bringing them back, Toussaint said.
“I'm excited about it, because we're flexing new muscle,” he said. “Things we didn't know we could do are being done, so the future looks really good.”
A high-note to emerge from the Katrina debacle has been that the public reacquainted itself with New Orleans' unique people and culture, he said.
“This was really an enlightenment for me. It's rejuvenated the thoughts I've always had that people are basically good and love their fellow man. It's not always apparent, but at our time of crisis I really saw that in action.”
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

MIAMI – When the FBI investigated the landmark 1972 porno movie “Deep Throat,” the case touched the highest levels of the FBI, even its second-in-command W. Mark Felt, the shadowy Watergate informant whose “Deep Throat” alias was taken from the movie’s title.
The FBI documents newly released to The Associated Press reveal the bureau’s sprawling and ultimately vain attempt to stop the spread of a movie some saw as the victory of a cultural and sexual revolution and others saw as simply decadent.
Agents seized copies of the movie, had negatives analyzed in labs and interviewed everyone from actors and producers to messengers who delivered reels to theaters.
“Today we can’t imagine authorities at any level of government — local, state or federal — being involved in obscenity prosecutions of this kind,” said Mark Weiner, a constitutional law professor and legal historian at Rutgers-Newark School of Law. “The story of ‘Deep Throat’ is the story of the last gasp of the forces lined up against the cultural and sexual revolution and it is the advent of the entry of pornography into the mainstream.”
The papers are among 498 pages from the FBI file on Gerard Damiano, who directed the movie and died in October. Released this month following a Freedom of Information Act request by the AP, they are just a glimpse into Damiano’s roughly 4,800-page file. More than 1,000 additional pages were withheld under FOIA exemptions and because they duplicated other material; the balance of the file has not yet been reviewed and released.
Many parts of the released files are whited out and the FBI’s ultimate targets are unclear, but the seriousness with which the agency treated the investigation is unquestionable.
The file includes memos between the FBI’s top men — L. Patrick Gray, William Ruckelshaus and Clarence Kelley, successive heads of the agency after J. Edgar Hoover — and field offices so widespread, it seemed nearly all of the country’s biggest cities were involved.
On various entries in the file, a checklist of top FBI brass appears in the top right corner, with initials next to some names. One of those listed is W. Mark Felt, the FBI second-in-command whose “Deep Throat” alias as a Watergate informant came from the movie’s title. None of the markings indicate he read any of the materials on the movie whose name became synonymous with his role in bringing down Richard Nixon’s presidency. However, former FBI agents interviewed by the AP after the documents were released said Felt almost certainly would have been aware of the huge investigation.
Felt got the double-entendre nickname because he leaked crucial information about Nixon administration corruption on “deep background” to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. His identity remained a secret until 2005. He died in December.
While much of the probe centered in New York, where many involved in the film lived, and Miami, where it was largely shot, agents from Honolulu to Detroit were involved.
Aside from investigative records tracking subpoenas, interviews, screenings and shipments of the film, the Damiano file includes various FBI agents’ play-by-play accounts of the movie’s plot, and the specific role of Damiano in the agency’s investigation.
The FBI notes Damiano had been “somewhat cooperative,” On Aug. 7, 1973, an assistant U.S. attorney general writes to Kelley, saying Damiano is being considered for immunity. The memo doesn’t specify the crime, though mentioned throughout the file is the charge of interstate transportation of obscene material.
Among the areas of the case file whited out is an interview with the star of the film, who at the time went by the name Linda Lovelace.
“Deep Throat” achieved fame unlike any pornographic film in history and become the most widely known adult film to reach a general audience. It was hugely profitable — made for about 25,000 and amassing hundreds of millions in receipts — and became a cultural buzzword.
Authorities have long said the movie was made with mafia money — and the FBI has linked the mob with porn over the years — but the file includes no mention of mob links.
Officials at every level of government tried to stop screenings and obscenity trials continued for years. But in the end, experts say, it represents the end of an era in which the government sought to stop the changing cultural tides.
Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA, said the oddity of the scope of the investigation into “Deep Throat” is a reflection of very different times.
“Certainly today, with our broadly socially less restrictive attitude to most pornography and to sex more broadly it may seem odd that the government was spending so much effort on something like this,” he said. “But attitudes back then were much different.”

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – A leading South African research group said one in four male South Africans it surveyed admitted to committing rape — a finding that cast a harsh light on a culture of sexual violence that victims groups say is deeply embedded in society.
According to police statistics, some 36,000 women were raped in 2007 — nearly 100 per day. But victim support groups and government-backed research say the vast majority of rapes go unreported because of the stigma and trauma involved. South Africa is home to about 50 million people.
The government-funded Medical Research Council, whose findings often influence official policy, said it conducted the survey to deepen understanding of men’s attitudes and behavior.
Chief researcher Rachel Jewkes said Friday that the findings were “shocking” but “not unexpected.” Opposition political parties said they were horrified, but victim support groups said they were not surprised.
“The report indicates that rape has become ‘normalized’ as a feature of masculine identity in a society that has emerged from years of oppression — a tragic development for both women and for men,” said Anne Marie Goetz, chief of the Governance, Peace and Security section of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.
“The implications of this are grave for women’s security but also for long-term development, which relies upon deepening gender equality,” Goetz said.
South Africa’s newly installed president, Jacob Zuma, has made combatting crime one of his top priorities and has set up a new ministry to promote women’s and children’s rights.
The government had no immediate comment, but the study is expected to be one of the focal points of a conference on sexual violence early next month.
“Rape is a crime of a sense of entitlement. It comes from a notion of power,” Jewkes said, adding that South Africa’s male dominated cultural traditions were partly to blame.
“I don’t think there is a quick fix,” said Jewkes. “If people were concerted about trying to fix it, it would take a generation.”
Researchers interviewed men from just over 1,700 households from a cross-section of the population in the rural provinces of the eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The survey gave no margin of error. The research council is internationally respected and regarded as reliable. It said it surveyed a representative cross-section of men of all races in the two provinces, which are representative of South Africa.
It was not immediately known if any comparable surveys on this sensitive topic have been published. Sexual abuse is rife in a number of African countries but none have the sophisticated survey methods of South Africa, and in some other countries it is a taboo subject.
Nearly 28 percent of men interviewed said they had forced a woman or girl to have sexual intercourse against her will, according to the survey. It said that 14 percent said they had raped a former or current girlfriend; 12 percent said they had raped someone who was not their partner; and 10 percent said they had raped both a stranger and a partner.
The research council survey said that nearly 20 percent of those who admitted sexual abuse had the AIDS virus — only slightly higher than the 18 percent infection rate among men not involved in rape.
It said that 17 percent of the men surveyed admitted to attempted rape, and 9 percent said they had taken part in gang rapes. In all, 42 percent of men surveyed said they had been physically violent to an intimate partner (current or ex-girlfriend or wife), including 14 percent in the past year.
“Our study suggests that the pathway which leads to these ideas and the practices of rape and other forms of violence toward women starts in childhood,” said Jewkes, head of the research council’s gender and health unit. She said the results backed up findings of earlier research among younger men.
She said that “rape is far too common, and its origins too deeply embedded in ideas about South African manhood,” for it to be regarded merely as a criminal problem which could be solved by prosecuting the rapists.
“You can’t change behavior practiced by one quarter of the population if the main strategy is through the use of police and courts,” Jewkes told The Associated Press. “The police and courts are important but they are only part of the solution.”
Many victim support groups complain that rape cases are repeatedly postponed and little is done to protect the woman from the trauma of facing her tormentor. Most cases don’t even reach court.
“Rape is one of the most brutal human rights violations in the world,” said Maria Jose Alcala, who heads the U.N. development fund’s effort to curtail violence against women. “It is a stark manifestation of just how little value our societies place on the lives and dignity of women and girls.”
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Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.