Exploring the Various Phases of Web Application Development

Believe it or not! Over past 12 years Internet usage has increased by over 500%. With Internet technology booming at such a rapid rate, web trade and online promotion are also evolving at an exceptional rate.

Entrepreneurs and marketers are investing in innovative and new age web application development techniques that can facilitate online business processes and promotions. And surprisingly, it has also provided business owners with an effective mode of communicating with their prospective customers. Business-centric web applications facilitate the completion of various non-viable tasks almost immediately, making it easier for businesses to outreach the masses.

Web Application and the World Wide Web:

Web apps are used as business tools and techniques that are launched on the World Wide Web by businesses, who wish to extend their data services to both online and offline customers. These applications constitute the ?Gen-X? of Internet evolution. These days, several business firms are seeking aid of web application development processes to target potential customers and buyers in a more effective manner. The primary aim of these business-centric apps is to promote products and services and expand the customer base with the help of targeted marketing. Thus, these web applications act as the primary interface between businesses and their customers that allow them to expand their service offerings and target potential audience to improve their bottom line.

The Web Application Development Process:

Web application development is a full cycle process that involves multiple stages, each of which plays a significant result in delivering a qualitative output. Being a multi-level process, development is intricate yet easy to perceive. Normally, before a web app in launched, it has to go through 4 major stages of development. Let?s take a deeper look at the major phases involved in the development process:

Verification: This is the foremost stage in the development process. In this stage, the direction and purpose of the web app is verified. This phase demands the management team to come together and jot down the goals and purpose of the web application. It includes numerous sub-stages such as scheduling, judging limitation and installing updates. At the end of this phase, there is a clear overview about the main purpose of the application.

Devising: This stage involves devising plans about the various instances involved in development. Which scripting language is to be used or which features need to be incorporated in the website is decided during this phase.

Judging: This stage involves job allocation and judgment regarding the functional scheme of the web app. This is the concluding stage that ensures that the application is developed in flow. All significant decisions are made at this stage.

Development: This is the phase wherein coders and programmers play a pivotal role. This stage calls for the developers to pull their socks and develop data variables, entities and various code snippets required to get the application running. Post completion of the development activities, the team of programmer?s hands over a completion document to the management team for review.

Stability: As the name suggests, this stage tests the stability of the application built during the development stage. At this stage, the functionality of the app is thoroughly tested and verified. It includes removal of any errors that may occur and updating the application thereon.

Web application development is an intricate process. With so many stages involved, it requires a professional firm to bring about the desired results. If you are also planning to develop a web app for your online business, you can hire the services of a professional web development firm or you can outsource your app development project.

Author's Bio:?

Steve Graham is a Sr. Content Writer in Xicom technologies. Xicom is a leading Website Development Company and Mobile Apps Development company which provides different array of genuine software solutions like Custom Software Development,Web application development services to its clients globally.

Source: http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/exploring-the-various-phases-of-web-application-development

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Inflationary Illusions in Real Estate

By Douglas French | 01/02/13

Real estate, and the careers that depend upon it, is a boom-bust business in the age of inflation. The illusion of wealth is everywhere..until it is snatched away.

That?s why it?s a great time for David Mamet?s Pulitzer Prize winning ?Glengarry Glen Ross? to make its third appearance on the Broadway stage. It?s a show about Chicago real estate salesmen selling Florida properties through deception and intimidation.

The show appears just as Iowa dirt ascends to new heights, hope springs eternal that home prices have stopped falling, and Bernanke?s tonic is finally putting some sizzle in the home market.

I?m a huge fan of the movie, as those who attended last year?s Vancouver Symposium may have detected. When asked during the Whiskey Bar panel what movie depicted the U.S. economy, I offered up ?Glenngary Glen Ross.?

I was sky high with anticipation taking my seat on 4th row. I was not disappointed. Broadway is indeed magic, especially when you can see the shine on the actor?s shoes and spit flies as they say their lines.

Reviewers are carping that the production is nothing but a vehicle for Al Pacino, who plays deluded has-been Shelly Levine. Maybe, but Bobby Cannavale steals the show as Ricky Roma, the role Al Pacino earned an Oscar nomination for in the 1992 movie version.

Cannavale brings more swagger to the Roma role than even Pacino did. He combs his slick Guido-style hairdo using his sun glasses as a vanity mirror. He looks to have stolen his suit, suspenders, white-collared shirts, and argyle socks from Gordon Gecko?s closet.

The audience was on the edge of their seats ready to react to any utterance or facial expression Pacino would produce. Still, his portrayal of ?The Machine? did not have the Willie Loman desperation that Jack Lemmon brought to the role on the big screen.

John C. McGinley on the other hand makes for an even angrier Dave Moss than the Ed Harris movie version. If there?s a plot to Glenngary, Moss is its protagonist. It is his desperate plan to do something, rather than just being stuck with the deadbeat sales leads, that puts the Premier Properties office in turmoil and sets up the climax.

Real estate investment is an opportunity. We paraphrase that great investment mind Ricky Roma, the alpha male salesman at the top of his game. Investments can teach a man about himself, as Roma waxes philosophical to the lonely James Lingk. It?s the power of suggestion plying the vulnerable.

In real life today, there is no shortage of vulnerable, especially not in Sioux County, Iowa.

On October 25th in Iowa, no spell was needed to entice buyers of fertile Iowa farmland. No condos or McMansions will sit on this land, only corn or soybeans. Auctioneers took turns taking bids as prices climbed for 80 acres in this heart of corn country. When bidding hit $20,000 per acre, reported an observer, ?you could hear a gasp in the room.? Applause broke out when bidding stopped at $21,900.

It?s been awful dry in the midwest, but the land market continues on fire, with prices up over 31 percent in the past five years, according Bloomberg Businessweek. Yep, it?s a no-brainer; income from crops ?and the long-term appreciation of the property,? professor Michael Duffy opines.

In a similar way, the Toronto condo market has defied reason and gravity for years, enticing investment from around the world. One reason is that people like Herbert Crockett believe in the old saw, passed on to him by his father: Invest in things you can touch. So Mr. Crockett took the plunge on a Trump Tower Hotel condo for C$904,000.

The ?Trump? salesforce told Crockett he would rack up between a 5 and 27 percent annual return from his investment in the big-name project. That sure beats the 2.25% regulated rate banks are paying in Crockett?s home in France. ?We bought into the Trump name and what we were being told was a hot real estate market in Toronto for this kind of project,? Crockett told Bloomberg in an interview. ?It turns out that the hotel had nothing to do with him and that it isn?t a good investment after all.?

The Toronto market, with more condos under construction than any other city in the world, is now beginning to soften and Mr. Crockett and others that bought are only renting their units a quarter of the time projected. Instead of receiving a monthly check from his investment, the retired HR director is now losing C$7,000 a month according to his lawsuit.

Although the Donald was featured prominently in Trump Tower sales literature, he and his staff were not involved in the development other than selling his famous name to the project and attending the grand opening. An attorney for Trump said, he ?was not involved in the sales process and Talon, the developer, made no representations to buyers regarding return on investment.?

But while the Trump legal staff paints the picture that he didn?t have anything to do with Toronto?s tallest building, evidently EVP and daughter Ivanka didn?t get the memo. ?We look forward to continuing to achieve great success at Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto,? she told Bloomberg in an email. ?Our team is dedicated to providing world-class service and amenities only found in a Trump Hotel Collection property.?

Great success? Well, yeah. ?The hotel is an unbelievable success,? Trump attorney Alan Garten says. Hey, occupancy might not be great. Investors might be losing money. But, the Canadian Automobile Association has awarded the hotel restaurant?s a four diamond rating and TripAdvisor.com rates the Trump Hotel tops in Toronto.

Mr. Crockett has hired lawyers to fix his mistake. In his court filing, Crockett contends he is ?the victim of an investment scheme and conspiracy based upon reckless and negligent misrepresentations.?

With the Toronto boom turning into a bust, the advice of Mr. Crockett?s late father is not so sage. It turns out he?s an investing neophyte. ?These are not sophisticated investors,? said Javad Heydary, who heads the law firm that is suing the developer and Trump for Crockett and 20 other investors. But the developer?s head man says this is all just a case of ?buyer?s remorse? and the plaintiffs just want to get out of their deals.

What were dreams and opportunities in a boom, become in the bust the fraudulent schemes of court filings. The charming and helpful salesmen are suddenly liars and crooks. ?There?s the illusion of movement in the Toronto housing sector with sales and buyers,? Crockett told Bloomberg, ?But now it seems more like a Ponzi scheme.?

Central bankers can print money and for a while, in some markets of some things, create the illusion of wealth and prosperity. There will always be salesmen around to facilitate the transaction ? Glengarry style. But neither the Fed nor the salesmen can stop the busts, the ruined lives, and hard feelings. The money printing and money manipulations ? all taking place on a epic scale ? only creates more.

Sincerely,
Doug French

Original article posted on Laissez-Faire Today?

Douglas French

Douglas French is a Senior Editor for Agora Financial. He received his master's degree under the direction of Murray N. Rothbard at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, after many years in the business of banking. He is the author of two books, Early Speculative Bubbles & Increases in the Money Supply, the first major empirical study of the relationship between early bubbles and the money supply, and Walk Away, a monograph assessing the philosophy and morality of strategic default. He is founder and editor of LibertyWatch magazine.

View articles by Douglas French

Source: http://dailyreckoning.com/inflationary-illusions-in-real-estate/

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Families call Colo. movie theater invite 'disgusting'

DENVER (AP) ? Relatives of those killed at a Colorado movie theater rejected an invitation Wednesday to attend its planned reopening, calling it a "disgusting offer" that came at a terrible time ? right after the first Christmas without their loved ones.

The parents, grandparents, cousins and widow of nine of the 12 people killed in the July shooting said they were asked to attend an "evening of remembrance" followed by a movie when the Aurora theater reopens on Jan. 17. They released a letter sent to the theater's owner, Cinemark, in which they criticized the Plano, Texas-based company for not previously reaching out to them to offer condolences and refusing to meet with them without lawyers.

"Our family members will never be on this earth with us again and a movie ticket and some token words from people who didn't care enough to reach out to us, nor respond when we reached out to them to talk, is appalling," the letter said.

Cinemark had no immediate comment.

The company announced last month that it would reopen the theater on Jan. 17 and invite people affected by the attack and other guests, a move that Aurora officials said has strong support in the community. Gov. John Hickenlooper plans to attend.

The Aurora Sentinel reported that plans filed with the city call for turning the theater into one of the company's "extreme digital cinema" sites that feature massive screens. It's not clear from the plans whether there will be a memorial to the victims.

The invitation was emailed to families by the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance, which said the offer was being sent on behalf of Cinemark.

It arrived two days after Christmas as Sandy and Lonnie Phillips, the mother and stepfather of Jessica Ghawi, one of the 12 people killed, were housesitting in Denver.

They had left their home in San Antonio, Texas, on the advice of their grief counselor to avoid being where they typically would have celebrated Christmas with Jessica. Sandy Phillips said they picked Denver on purpose because her daughter, a 24-year-old aspiring sportscaster, had been happy there.

The Phillipses said the invitation could be a public relations ploy to help show the public that some victims or their families are willing to attend the theater reopening.

"It was a killing field. It was a place of carnage and they've not once told us what their plans are for the theater other than that they're reopening it," said Sandy Phillips. She would like the theater where her daughter was killed to be demolished, though she acknowledged that it was unrealistic to expect Cinemark to give up the rest of the building.

The families of some victims have sued Cinemark. The father of the youngest person killed in the shooting, 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, is among them. He didn't sign the letter but the girl's grandparents did. The Phillipses have not decided whether they will sue.

Also Wednesday, prosecutors and defense lawyers said they are ready for a crucial hearing next week in which prosecutors will outline their case against James Holmes, who is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 during the midnight showing of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" on July 20.

It starts Monday and is scheduled to run all week. At its conclusion, state District Judge William B. Sylvester will decide if the evidence is sufficient to put Holmes on trial.

The defense could waive the hearing but legal analysts said defense lawyers sometimes go ahead with the hearing to get an idea of how strong the prosecution's case is.

Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor, said preliminary hearings sometimes set the stage for a plea agreement as each side gets to assess the strength of the other.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder and hasn't been asked to enter a plea yet. His lawyers have said he suffers from mental illness.

Next week's hearing will give the public its first officially sanctioned look at much of the evidence against Holmes.

A judge imposed a gag order shortly after Holmes' arrest barring attorneys and investigators from speaking publicly about the case, and many documents have been sealed.

The University of Colorado, where Holmes was enrolled in a Ph. D. neuroscience program, has also been tight-lipped about the case. Investigators said he began stockpiling firearms and ammunition while taking classes in the spring.

In June, he made threats to a professor and on June 10 filed withdrawal papers after failing a year-end exam, prosecutors said. The next day he saw his school psychiatrist who tried to report him to a campus security committee, according to Holmes' lawyers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/colo-theater-shooting-kin-reject-movie-invitation-184020439.html

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Arts News Headlines - Yahoo! News

http://news.yahoo.com/arts/ Get the latest Arts news headlines from Yahoo! News. Find breaking Arts news, including analysis and opinion on top Arts stories, photos and more.en-USCopyright (c) 2013 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reservedSun, 23 Dec 2012 15:55:04 -05005http://news.yahoo.com/arts/ http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/th/main_142c.gif<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/witch-burns-audience-fire-vienna-opera-show-204619748.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/TSvdKj2imR6.7TAzIzy_CA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/1e7ad78a06a38c24240f6a706700fc30.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="In this undated, publicly provided picture by Volksoper Vienna, children dressed as angels perform during a rehearsal of the opera Hansel and Gretel, by composer Engelbert Humperdinck in the Volksoper opera in Vienna. (AP Photo/HONS/ Barbara Palffy,Volksoper Vienna)" align="left" title="In this undated, publicly provided picture by Volksoper Vienna, children dressed as angels perform during a rehearsal of the opera Hansel and Gretel, by composer Engelbert Humperdinck in the Volksoper opera in Vienna. (AP Photo/HONS/ Barbara Palffy,Volksoper Vienna)" border="0" /></a>VIENNA (AP) ? At the end of the evening, the witch was toast Sunday ? or more precisely a gingerbread cookie ? and the audience at Vienna&#039;s Volksoper loved it.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/witch-burns-audience-fire-vienna-opera-show-204619748.htmlSun, 23 Dec 2012 15:55:04 -0500Associated Presswitch-burns-audience-fire-vienna-opera-show-204619748<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/witch-burns-audience-fire-vienna-opera-show-204619748.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/TSvdKj2imR6.7TAzIzy_CA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/1e7ad78a06a38c24240f6a706700fc30.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="In this undated, publicly provided picture by Volksoper Vienna, children dressed as angels perform during a rehearsal of the opera Hansel and Gretel, by composer Engelbert Humperdinck in the Volksoper opera in Vienna. (AP Photo/HONS/ Barbara Palffy,Volksoper Vienna)" align="left" title="In this undated, publicly provided picture by Volksoper Vienna, children dressed as angels perform during a rehearsal of the opera Hansel and Gretel, by composer Engelbert Humperdinck in the Volksoper opera in Vienna. (AP Photo/HONS/ Barbara Palffy,Volksoper Vienna)" border="0" /></a>VIENNA (AP) ? At the end of the evening, the witch was toast Sunday ? or more precisely a gingerbread cookie ? and the audience at Vienna&#039;s Volksoper loved it.</p><br clear="all"/>NEW YORK (AP) ? Marcello Giordani struggled mightily, his top notes effortful and thin. It turned out the tenor's third performance of Aeneas in the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Berlioz's "Les Troyens" would be his last.http://news.yahoo.com/berliozs-troyens-revived-metropolitan-opera-181944668.htmlSun, 23 Dec 2012 13:19:44 -0500Associated Pressberliozs-troyens-revived-metropolitan-opera-181944668<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/stokowski-sleuth-tracks-past-philly-orchestra-154544107.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/xHYzDS.4oFOsY1FIz5oemQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/f0e2bbc4d22c5823240f6a706700e7e0.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="FILE - in this Jan. 25, 1968 file photo, conductor Leopold Stokowski rehearses in the Felt Room in Madison Square Garden in New York. A century after Leopold Stokowski (sto-KOV&#039;-ski) took the reins of The Philadelphia Orchestra, a history detective set on his trail has tracked down rarely-seen correspondence and belongings of the conductor affectionately known as &quot;Stoki.&quot; Jack McCarthy, an archivist for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, conducted a yearlong project for the orchestra to mark the 100th anniversary of Stokowski&#039;s 1912 appointment as conductor. (AP Photo)" align="left" title="FILE - in this Jan. 25, 1968 file photo, conductor Leopold Stokowski rehearses in the Felt Room in Madison Square Garden in New York. A century after Leopold Stokowski (sto-KOV&#039;-ski) took the reins of The Philadelphia Orchestra, a history detective set on his trail has tracked down rarely-seen correspondence and belongings of the conductor affectionately known as &quot;Stoki.&quot; Jack McCarthy, an archivist for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, conducted a yearlong project for the orchestra to mark the 100th anniversary of Stokowski&#039;s 1912 appointment as conductor. (AP Photo)" border="0" /></a>PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A century after Leopold Stokowski took the reins of The Philadelphia Orchestra, a history detective set on his trail has tracked down rarely-seen correspondence and belongings of the conductor affectionately known as &quot;Stoki.&quot;</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/stokowski-sleuth-tracks-past-philly-orchestra-154544107.htmlFri, 21 Dec 2012 11:25:26 -0500Associated Pressstokowski-sleuth-tracks-past-philly-orchestra-154544107<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/stokowski-sleuth-tracks-past-philly-orchestra-154544107.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/xHYzDS.4oFOsY1FIz5oemQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/f0e2bbc4d22c5823240f6a706700e7e0.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="FILE - in this Jan. 25, 1968 file photo, conductor Leopold Stokowski rehearses in the Felt Room in Madison Square Garden in New York. A century after Leopold Stokowski (sto-KOV&#039;-ski) took the reins of The Philadelphia Orchestra, a history detective set on his trail has tracked down rarely-seen correspondence and belongings of the conductor affectionately known as &quot;Stoki.&quot; Jack McCarthy, an archivist for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, conducted a yearlong project for the orchestra to mark the 100th anniversary of Stokowski&#039;s 1912 appointment as conductor. (AP Photo)" align="left" title="FILE - in this Jan. 25, 1968 file photo, conductor Leopold Stokowski rehearses in the Felt Room in Madison Square Garden in New York. A century after Leopold Stokowski (sto-KOV&#039;-ski) took the reins of The Philadelphia Orchestra, a history detective set on his trail has tracked down rarely-seen correspondence and belongings of the conductor affectionately known as &quot;Stoki.&quot; Jack McCarthy, an archivist for the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, conducted a yearlong project for the orchestra to mark the 100th anniversary of Stokowski&#039;s 1912 appointment as conductor. (AP Photo)" border="0" /></a>PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A century after Leopold Stokowski took the reins of The Philadelphia Orchestra, a history detective set on his trail has tracked down rarely-seen correspondence and belongings of the conductor affectionately known as &quot;Stoki.&quot;</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/renowned-opera-singer-vienna-going-strong-95-073824047.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/B_rPECDBR2JoTkWQKZvfCA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c026c506b65b3623240f6a706700cf25.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="NIn this Aug. 31, 2012 photo provided by the Austrian parliament 95 year-old soprano Hilde Zadek delivers a speech after being awarded with the Great Medal of Honor of the Austrian Republic, at the parliament in Vienna, Austria. For Zadek, the city she once despised as part of Hitler&#039;s evil empire has long become a home that she says she would never leave _ and one that is proud to call her own. She has been showered with medals, granted high honorary titles and a singer&#039;s competition named after her 13 years ago has turned into an international launching pad for future opera stars. (AP Photo/Parlamentsdirektion/Bildagentur Zolles KG/Jacqueline Godany)" align="left" title="NIn this Aug. 31, 2012 photo provided by the Austrian parliament 95 year-old soprano Hilde Zadek delivers a speech after being awarded with the Great Medal of Honor of the Austrian Republic, at the parliament in Vienna, Austria. For Zadek, the city she once despised as part of Hitler&#039;s evil empire has long become a home that she says she would never leave _ and one that is proud to call her own. She has been showered with medals, granted high honorary titles and a singer&#039;s competition named after her 13 years ago has turned into an international launching pad for future opera stars. (AP Photo/Parlamentsdirektion/Bildagentur Zolles KG/Jacqueline Godany)" border="0" /></a>VIENNA (AP) ? It was 1947 in post-war Vienna, and Hilde Zadek remembers taking a deep breath behind the curtain. A rookie on her first opera gig, she was about to sing the prestigious role of Aida for an audience full of particularly harsh critics ? whistle-packing Nazis she says were determined to show &quot;that Jew from Palestine&quot; she was not welcome at one of the world&#039;s greatest opera houses.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/renowned-opera-singer-vienna-going-strong-95-073824047.htmlThu, 20 Dec 2012 08:29:27 -0500Associated Pressrenowned-opera-singer-vienna-going-strong-95-073824047<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/renowned-opera-singer-vienna-going-strong-95-073824047.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/B_rPECDBR2JoTkWQKZvfCA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c026c506b65b3623240f6a706700cf25.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="NIn this Aug. 31, 2012 photo provided by the Austrian parliament 95 year-old soprano Hilde Zadek delivers a speech after being awarded with the Great Medal of Honor of the Austrian Republic, at the parliament in Vienna, Austria. For Zadek, the city she once despised as part of Hitler&#039;s evil empire has long become a home that she says she would never leave _ and one that is proud to call her own. She has been showered with medals, granted high honorary titles and a singer&#039;s competition named after her 13 years ago has turned into an international launching pad for future opera stars. (AP Photo/Parlamentsdirektion/Bildagentur Zolles KG/Jacqueline Godany)" align="left" title="NIn this Aug. 31, 2012 photo provided by the Austrian parliament 95 year-old soprano Hilde Zadek delivers a speech after being awarded with the Great Medal of Honor of the Austrian Republic, at the parliament in Vienna, Austria. For Zadek, the city she once despised as part of Hitler&#039;s evil empire has long become a home that she says she would never leave _ and one that is proud to call her own. She has been showered with medals, granted high honorary titles and a singer&#039;s competition named after her 13 years ago has turned into an international launching pad for future opera stars. (AP Photo/Parlamentsdirektion/Bildagentur Zolles KG/Jacqueline Godany)" border="0" /></a>VIENNA (AP) ? It was 1947 in post-war Vienna, and Hilde Zadek remembers taking a deep breath behind the curtain. A rookie on her first opera gig, she was about to sing the prestigious role of Aida for an audience full of particularly harsh critics ? whistle-packing Nazis she says were determined to show &quot;that Jew from Palestine&quot; she was not welcome at one of the world&#039;s greatest opera houses.</p><br clear="all"/>MILAN (AP) ? La Scala has canceled the inaugural ballet of its season because of a strike by the chorus.http://news.yahoo.com/la-scala-chorus-strike-forces-ballet-cancellation-164658696.htmlWed, 19 Dec 2012 11:46:58 -0500Associated Pressla-scala-chorus-strike-forces-ballet-cancellation-164658696<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/one-direction-named-mtvs-2012-artist-010212999.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Ap5Sl8ualhtVrFPSfmxH2Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/ed77c2b21ab4a123230f6a7067007f9a.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="FILE - In this Friday Dec. 7, 2012 file photo, One Direction performs at Z100&#039;s Jingle Ball 2012 presented by Aeropostale at Madison Square Garden in New York. Band members, from left, are Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson. MTV on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 announced that One Direction is the network&#039;s 2012 Artist of the Year. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)" align="left" title="FILE - In this Friday Dec. 7, 2012 file photo, One Direction performs at Z100&#039;s Jingle Ball 2012 presented by Aeropostale at Madison Square Garden in New York. Band members, from left, are Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson. MTV on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 announced that One Direction is the network&#039;s 2012 Artist of the Year. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)" border="0" /></a>They&#039;re platinum. They&#039;re fascinating. And now One Direction is MTV&#039;s 2012 Artist of the Year.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/one-direction-named-mtvs-2012-artist-010212999.htmlThu, 13 Dec 2012 20:08:20 -0500Associated Pressone-direction-named-mtvs-2012-artist-010212999<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/one-direction-named-mtvs-2012-artist-010212999.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Ap5Sl8ualhtVrFPSfmxH2Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/ed77c2b21ab4a123230f6a7067007f9a.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="FILE - In this Friday Dec. 7, 2012 file photo, One Direction performs at Z100&#039;s Jingle Ball 2012 presented by Aeropostale at Madison Square Garden in New York. Band members, from left, are Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson. MTV on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 announced that One Direction is the network&#039;s 2012 Artist of the Year. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)" align="left" title="FILE - In this Friday Dec. 7, 2012 file photo, One Direction performs at Z100&#039;s Jingle Ball 2012 presented by Aeropostale at Madison Square Garden in New York. Band members, from left, are Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, and Louis Tomlinson. MTV on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 announced that One Direction is the network&#039;s 2012 Artist of the Year. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)" border="0" /></a>They&#039;re platinum. They&#039;re fascinating. And now One Direction is MTV&#039;s 2012 Artist of the Year.</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/trevin-hunte-talks-elimination-voice-im-excited-start-193830190.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/HskLN_nEsUiaarA7Dwwgmw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/AccessHollywoodTV/179007.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="Trevin Hunte performs on &#039;The Voice&#039; -- NBC" align="left" title="Trevin Hunte performs on &#039;The Voice&#039; -- NBC" border="0" /></a>Team Cee Lo lost teenager Trevin Hunte from &quot;The Voice&quot; competition on Tuesday, when he was eliminated just shy of the finals, and his reaction backstage was positively upbeat.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/trevin-hunte-talks-elimination-voice-im-excited-start-193830190.htmlWed, 12 Dec 2012 14:38:30 -0500Access Hollywoodtrevin-hunte-talks-elimination-voice-im-excited-start-193830190<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/trevin-hunte-talks-elimination-voice-im-excited-start-193830190.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/HskLN_nEsUiaarA7Dwwgmw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/AccessHollywoodTV/179007.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="Trevin Hunte performs on &#039;The Voice&#039; -- NBC" align="left" title="Trevin Hunte performs on &#039;The Voice&#039; -- NBC" border="0" /></a>Team Cee Lo lost teenager Trevin Hunte from &quot;The Voice&quot; competition on Tuesday, when he was eliminated just shy of the finals, and his reaction backstage was positively upbeat.</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/swiss-opera-diva-della-casa-dies-93-103025528.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/w_FfmkoBMNk1SKMZDyzosA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/da2db26bd0b16822230f6a706700b351.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="FILE - This is an October 1973 file photo of Swiss opera singer Lisa della Casa, center, as she performs on stage at the Zurich Opera &quot;Opernhaus Zuerich&quot;, Switzerland, . According to media reports on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, Lisa della Casa died at the age of 93 at Muensterlingen at the Lake of Constance, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone/file) NO ARCHIVE" align="left" title="FILE - This is an October 1973 file photo of Swiss opera singer Lisa della Casa, center, as she performs on stage at the Zurich Opera &quot;Opernhaus Zuerich&quot;, Switzerland, . According to media reports on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, Lisa della Casa died at the age of 93 at Muensterlingen at the Lake of Constance, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone/file) NO ARCHIVE" border="0" /></a>Famed for her beauty that matched her serene voice, Swiss-born diva Lisa Della Casa swept up crowds at opera houses of the past century with an elegant and radiant style that established her as one of the finest sopranos of her generation.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/swiss-opera-diva-della-casa-dies-93-103025528.htmlWed, 12 Dec 2012 10:46:25 -0500Associated Pressswiss-opera-diva-della-casa-dies-93-103025528<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/swiss-opera-diva-della-casa-dies-93-103025528.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/w_FfmkoBMNk1SKMZDyzosA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/da2db26bd0b16822230f6a706700b351.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="FILE - This is an October 1973 file photo of Swiss opera singer Lisa della Casa, center, as she performs on stage at the Zurich Opera &quot;Opernhaus Zuerich&quot;, Switzerland, . According to media reports on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, Lisa della Casa died at the age of 93 at Muensterlingen at the Lake of Constance, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone/file) NO ARCHIVE" align="left" title="FILE - This is an October 1973 file photo of Swiss opera singer Lisa della Casa, center, as she performs on stage at the Zurich Opera &quot;Opernhaus Zuerich&quot;, Switzerland, . According to media reports on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012, Lisa della Casa died at the age of 93 at Muensterlingen at the Lake of Constance, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Keystone/file) NO ARCHIVE" border="0" /></a>Famed for her beauty that matched her serene voice, Swiss-born diva Lisa Della Casa swept up crowds at opera houses of the past century with an elegant and radiant style that established her as one of the finest sopranos of her generation.</p><br clear="all"/>The Metropolitan Opera's final performance this season of Mozart's last opera, "La Clemenza di Tito," was notable for the unexpected company debut of mezzo-soprano Geraldine Chauvet.http://news.yahoo.com/soprano-geraldine-chauvet-makes-met-opera-debut-232921660.htmlTue, 11 Dec 2012 18:29:21 -0500Associated Presssoprano-geraldine-chauvet-makes-met-opera-debut-232921660<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/russian-opera-diva-vishnevskaya-dies-86-153942200.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4.FsktWnxNVlUH_FemqjnQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3B4b2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT04NTt3PTEzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/b3739a28d0c06822230f6a706700432d.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007, Galina Vishnevskaya speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Russian opera diva Galina Vishevskaya, who conquered audiences all over the world with her rich soprano, has died. She was 86. Moscow&#039;s Opera Center, which Vishnevskaya created, said the singer died Tuesday in the Russian capital. It didn&#039;t give the cause. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)" align="left" title="In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007, Galina Vishnevskaya speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Russian opera diva Galina Vishevskaya, who conquered audiences all over the world with her rich soprano, has died. She was 86. Moscow&#039;s Opera Center, which Vishnevskaya created, said the singer died Tuesday in the Russian capital. It didn&#039;t give the cause. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)" border="0" /></a>World-renowned Russian opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya, who with her husband defied the Soviet regime to give shelter to writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn and suffered exile from her homeland, has died at 86.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/russian-opera-diva-vishnevskaya-dies-86-153942200.htmlTue, 11 Dec 2012 14:45:52 -0500Associated Pressrussian-opera-diva-vishnevskaya-dies-86-153942200<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/russian-opera-diva-vishnevskaya-dies-86-153942200.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4.FsktWnxNVlUH_FemqjnQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3B4b2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT04NTt3PTEzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/b3739a28d0c06822230f6a706700432d.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007, Galina Vishnevskaya speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Russian opera diva Galina Vishevskaya, who conquered audiences all over the world with her rich soprano, has died. She was 86. Moscow&#039;s Opera Center, which Vishnevskaya created, said the singer died Tuesday in the Russian capital. It didn&#039;t give the cause. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)" align="left" title="In this photo taken on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2007, Galina Vishnevskaya speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia. Russian opera diva Galina Vishevskaya, who conquered audiences all over the world with her rich soprano, has died. She was 86. Moscow&#039;s Opera Center, which Vishnevskaya created, said the singer died Tuesday in the Russian capital. It didn&#039;t give the cause. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)" border="0" /></a>World-renowned Russian opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya, who with her husband defied the Soviet regime to give shelter to writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn and suffered exile from her homeland, has died at 86.</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/van-gogh-dazzles-netherlands-kroeller-mueller-124347101.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/MTa6vRoeAfru4qlmWKlK_w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c9cfa87bd0046522230f6a7067007cc8.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="In this photo provided by the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in Otterlo on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 the 1887 painting &quot;Four sunflowers gone to seed&quot; by Vincent van Gogh is seen.With the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam closed for renovations, the world&#039;s second-largest collection of the tortured Dutch master&#039;s work is stepping into the limelight. The lesser-known Kroeller-Mueller museum in the eastern Netherlands has revamped the layout of its central rooms, giving more space and focus to many of its top works. (AP Photo/ Kroeller-Mueller Museum)" align="left" title="In this photo provided by the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in Otterlo on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 the 1887 painting &quot;Four sunflowers gone to seed&quot; by Vincent van Gogh is seen.With the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam closed for renovations, the world&#039;s second-largest collection of the tortured Dutch master&#039;s work is stepping into the limelight. The lesser-known Kroeller-Mueller museum in the eastern Netherlands has revamped the layout of its central rooms, giving more space and focus to many of its top works. (AP Photo/ Kroeller-Mueller Museum)" border="0" /></a>With the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam closed for renovations until April, the world&#039;s second-largest collection of the tortured Dutch master&#039;s work is stepping into the limelight.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/van-gogh-dazzles-netherlands-kroeller-mueller-124347101.htmlTue, 11 Dec 2012 14:37:09 -0500Associated Pressvan-gogh-dazzles-netherlands-kroeller-mueller-124347101<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/van-gogh-dazzles-netherlands-kroeller-mueller-124347101.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/MTa6vRoeAfru4qlmWKlK_w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c9cfa87bd0046522230f6a7067007cc8.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="In this photo provided by the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in Otterlo on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 the 1887 painting &quot;Four sunflowers gone to seed&quot; by Vincent van Gogh is seen.With the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam closed for renovations, the world&#039;s second-largest collection of the tortured Dutch master&#039;s work is stepping into the limelight. The lesser-known Kroeller-Mueller museum in the eastern Netherlands has revamped the layout of its central rooms, giving more space and focus to many of its top works. (AP Photo/ Kroeller-Mueller Museum)" align="left" title="In this photo provided by the Kroeller-Mueller Museum in Otterlo on Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012 the 1887 painting &quot;Four sunflowers gone to seed&quot; by Vincent van Gogh is seen.With the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam closed for renovations, the world&#039;s second-largest collection of the tortured Dutch master&#039;s work is stepping into the limelight. The lesser-known Kroeller-Mueller museum in the eastern Netherlands has revamped the layout of its central rooms, giving more space and focus to many of its top works. (AP Photo/ Kroeller-Mueller Museum)" border="0" /></a>With the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam closed for renovations until April, the world&#039;s second-largest collection of the tortured Dutch master&#039;s work is stepping into the limelight.</p><br clear="all"/>STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - A new museum devoted to ABBA may attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Swedish capital but that does not mean the four members of the super group will ever reunite, at least on stage, former ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus said. The museum, a permanent exhibition within a hall of fame of Swedish pop music, opens in May next year. It will feature memorabilia like stage costumes worn by the singers, and visitors will also be able to sing along to ABBA songs alongside life size holograms of the group. ...http://news.yahoo.com/museum-abba-no-stage-reunion-153032009.htmlTue, 11 Dec 2012 10:30:32 -0500Reutersmuseum-abba-no-stage-reunion-153032009<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/russias-hermitage-museum-denounces-blasphemy-investigation-161606225.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/xN.BYj4qHbj6MIId1kPc1g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-12-10T211226Z_1_CBRE8B91MWX00_RTROPTP_2_RUSSIA.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="People launch floating paper lanterns into the sky in front of the Hermitage museum to mark Earth Hour in St. Petersburg" align="left" title="People launch floating paper lanterns into the sky in front of the Hermitage museum to mark Earth Hour in St. Petersburg" border="0" /></a>MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russia&#039;s renowned Hermitage Museum accused Russian authorities on Monday of fostering &quot;mob rule&quot; in taking up complaints by Russian Orthodox Christians over a British exhibit they said injured religious feelings. The row coincides with a surge in religious, nationalist sentiment in Russia, with President Vladimir Putin moving closer to the Orthodox Church to consolidate his support after facing the biggest protests since he rose to power nearly 13 years ago. ...</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/russias-hermitage-museum-denounces-blasphemy-investigation-161606225.htmlMon, 10 Dec 2012 16:12:26 -0500Reutersrussias-hermitage-museum-denounces-blasphemy-investigation-161606225<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/russias-hermitage-museum-denounces-blasphemy-investigation-161606225.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/xN.BYj4qHbj6MIId1kPc1g--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-12-10T211226Z_1_CBRE8B91MWX00_RTROPTP_2_RUSSIA.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="People launch floating paper lanterns into the sky in front of the Hermitage museum to mark Earth Hour in St. Petersburg" align="left" title="People launch floating paper lanterns into the sky in front of the Hermitage museum to mark Earth Hour in St. Petersburg" border="0" /></a>MOSCOW (Reuters) - The head of Russia&#039;s renowned Hermitage Museum accused Russian authorities on Monday of fostering &quot;mob rule&quot; in taking up complaints by Russian Orthodox Christians over a British exhibit they said injured religious feelings. The row coincides with a surge in religious, nationalist sentiment in Russia, with President Vladimir Putin moving closer to the Orthodox Church to consolidate his support after facing the biggest protests since he rose to power nearly 13 years ago. ...</p><br clear="all"/>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Comic artist Brecht Evens decided to break away from the traditional comic strip images of clear lines and pencil sketches developed in Belgium more than half a century ago. After surviving at first on government subsidies, in 2010 he produced a graphic novel featuring vibrant watercolours and smudged scenes of sexuality and riotous nightlife, with characters blurred into their surroundings. ...http://news.yahoo.com/belgian-graphic-artist-breaks-comic-tradition-142526248.htmlMon, 10 Dec 2012 09:25:26 -0500Reutersbelgian-graphic-artist-breaks-comic-tradition-142526248<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-nobel-literature-winner-censorship-must-173753873.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4xh6f8XFtn4fbjR2U5NmIw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/836849ed4f48ed22220f6a706700123b.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" align="left" title="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" border="0" /></a>This year&#039;s Nobel Prize in literature winner, Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his membership in China&#039;s Communist Party and reluctance to speak out against the country&#039;s government, defended censorship Thursday as something as necessary as airport security checks.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-nobel-literature-winner-censorship-must-173753873.htmlThu, 06 Dec 2012 20:24:03 -0500Associated Presschinese-nobel-literature-winner-censorship-must-173753873<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-nobel-literature-winner-censorship-must-173753873.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4xh6f8XFtn4fbjR2U5NmIw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/836849ed4f48ed22220f6a706700123b.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" align="left" title="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" border="0" /></a>This year&#039;s Nobel Prize in literature winner, Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his membership in China&#039;s Communist Party and reluctance to speak out against the country&#039;s government, defended censorship Thursday as something as necessary as airport security checks.</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/nobel-literature-winner-says-censorship-necessary-131127892.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4xh6f8XFtn4fbjR2U5NmIw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/836849ed4f48ed22220f6a706700123b.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" align="left" title="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" border="0" /></a>This year&#039;s Nobel literature winner Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his cozy relationship with China&#039;s Communist Party, defended censorship Thursday as something as necessary as airport security checks.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/nobel-literature-winner-says-censorship-necessary-131127892.htmlThu, 06 Dec 2012 11:12:06 -0500Associated Pressnobel-literature-winner-says-censorship-necessary-131127892<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/nobel-literature-winner-says-censorship-necessary-131127892.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/4xh6f8XFtn4fbjR2U5NmIw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/836849ed4f48ed22220f6a706700123b.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" align="left" title="The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT" border="0" /></a>This year&#039;s Nobel literature winner Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his cozy relationship with China&#039;s Communist Party, defended censorship Thursday as something as necessary as airport security checks.</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/royal-opera-stages-meyerbeer-rarity-130217842.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/v1aktp3_sL0UcYW4Cey3HQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-12-06T142720Z_1_CBRE8B5145N00_RTROPTP_2_ARTS-US-DEVIL-OPERA.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="(Blank Headline Received)" align="left" title="(Blank Headline Received)" border="0" /></a>LONDON (Reuters) - The audience at London&#039;s Royal Opera House is in for a big surprise on Thursday night. They will witness German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer&#039;s 1831 grand opera &quot;Robert le Diable&quot; (Robert the Devil), a work so rarely performed that virtually no one has seen it, let alone sung it or played it. In fact, the last time Britain&#039;s prestigious Royal Opera House put on the epic work was in 1890, by which time it had fallen out of favor, never to recover fully. ...</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/royal-opera-stages-meyerbeer-rarity-130217842.htmlThu, 06 Dec 2012 09:27:57 -0500Reutersroyal-opera-stages-meyerbeer-rarity-130217842<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/royal-opera-stages-meyerbeer-rarity-130217842.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/v1aktp3_sL0UcYW4Cey3HQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-12-06T142720Z_1_CBRE8B5145N00_RTROPTP_2_ARTS-US-DEVIL-OPERA.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="(Blank Headline Received)" align="left" title="(Blank Headline Received)" border="0" /></a>LONDON (Reuters) - The audience at London&#039;s Royal Opera House is in for a big surprise on Thursday night. They will witness German composer Giacomo Meyerbeer&#039;s 1831 grand opera &quot;Robert le Diable&quot; (Robert the Devil), a work so rarely performed that virtually no one has seen it, let alone sung it or played it. In fact, the last time Britain&#039;s prestigious Royal Opera House put on the epic work was in 1890, by which time it had fallen out of favor, never to recover fully. ...</p><br clear="all"/>Dave Brubeck?recently called "the reigning elder statesman of jazz" by the Washington Post?died Wednesday in Connecticut on his way to a cardiology appointment, one day shy of his 92nd birthday.http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/world-mad-brubeck-dave-brubeck-1920-2012-180310597.htmlWed, 05 Dec 2012 18:07:55 -0500blogs/stop-the-presses/world-mad-brubeck-dave-brubeck-1920-2012-180310597<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/londons-dickens-museum-reopens-makeover-145932532.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/spUFDtlaWRkNUrqGMCaFow--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/19bd15533623d722220f6a70670051f7.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="The study in Charles Dickens&#039; home, part of the Charles Dickens Museum in London, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. For years, the four-story brick row house where the author lived with his young family was a dusty and slightly neglected museum, a mecca for Dickens scholars but overlooked by most visitors to London. Now, after a 3 million pound ($4.8 million) makeover, it has been restored to bring the writer&#039;s world to life. Its director says it aims to look &quot;as if Dickens had just stepped out.&quot; (AP Photo/Sang Tan)" align="left" title="The study in Charles Dickens&#039; home, part of the Charles Dickens Museum in London, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. For years, the four-story brick row house where the author lived with his young family was a dusty and slightly neglected museum, a mecca for Dickens scholars but overlooked by most visitors to London. Now, after a 3 million pound ($4.8 million) makeover, it has been restored to bring the writer&#039;s world to life. Its director says it aims to look &quot;as if Dickens had just stepped out.&quot; (AP Photo/Sang Tan)" border="0" /></a>Charles Dickens&#039; London home has gone from &quot;Bleak House&quot; to &quot;Great Expectations.&quot;</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/londons-dickens-museum-reopens-makeover-145932532.htmlWed, 05 Dec 2012 12:21:13 -0500Associated Presslondons-dickens-museum-reopens-makeover-145932532<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/londons-dickens-museum-reopens-makeover-145932532.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/spUFDtlaWRkNUrqGMCaFow--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/19bd15533623d722220f6a70670051f7.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="The study in Charles Dickens&#039; home, part of the Charles Dickens Museum in London, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. For years, the four-story brick row house where the author lived with his young family was a dusty and slightly neglected museum, a mecca for Dickens scholars but overlooked by most visitors to London. Now, after a 3 million pound ($4.8 million) makeover, it has been restored to bring the writer&#039;s world to life. Its director says it aims to look &quot;as if Dickens had just stepped out.&quot; (AP Photo/Sang Tan)" align="left" title="The study in Charles Dickens&#039; home, part of the Charles Dickens Museum in London, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. For years, the four-story brick row house where the author lived with his young family was a dusty and slightly neglected museum, a mecca for Dickens scholars but overlooked by most visitors to London. Now, after a 3 million pound ($4.8 million) makeover, it has been restored to bring the writer&#039;s world to life. Its director says it aims to look &quot;as if Dickens had just stepped out.&quot; (AP Photo/Sang Tan)" border="0" /></a>Charles Dickens&#039; London home has gone from &quot;Bleak House&quot; to &quot;Great Expectations.&quot;</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/review-golden-age-offers-sneak-pique-opera-015509192.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/IbyRs21m5rcDuQgO8c5l4Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/cf07d4751d67c422220f6a706700bb99.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="This undated theater image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows, from left, Lorenzo Pisoni, Lee Pace, Will Rogers and Bebe Neuwirth, in a scene from Terrence McNally?s &quot;Golden Age,&quot; currently performing at Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center in New York. (AP Photo/Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Joan Marcus)" align="left" title="This undated theater image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows, from left, Lorenzo Pisoni, Lee Pace, Will Rogers and Bebe Neuwirth, in a scene from Terrence McNally?s &quot;Golden Age,&quot; currently performing at Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center in New York. (AP Photo/Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Joan Marcus)" border="0" /></a>Jealous sniping has always been in fashion, whatever the century.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/review-golden-age-offers-sneak-pique-opera-015509192.htmlTue, 04 Dec 2012 20:55:09 -0500Associated Pressreview-golden-age-offers-sneak-pique-opera-015509192<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/review-golden-age-offers-sneak-pique-opera-015509192.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/IbyRs21m5rcDuQgO8c5l4Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/cf07d4751d67c422220f6a706700bb99.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="This undated theater image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows, from left, Lorenzo Pisoni, Lee Pace, Will Rogers and Bebe Neuwirth, in a scene from Terrence McNally?s &quot;Golden Age,&quot; currently performing at Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center in New York. (AP Photo/Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Joan Marcus)" align="left" title="This undated theater image released by Boneau/Bryan-Brown shows, from left, Lorenzo Pisoni, Lee Pace, Will Rogers and Bebe Neuwirth, in a scene from Terrence McNally?s &quot;Golden Age,&quot; currently performing at Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center in New York. (AP Photo/Boneau/Bryan-Brown, Joan Marcus)" border="0" /></a>Jealous sniping has always been in fashion, whatever the century.</p><br clear="all"/>DALLAS (Reuters) - The Dallas Museum of Art has returned an ancient piece of artwork to Turkish officials after learning that the piece was likely looted from an archeological site. Museum officials said they are cooperating with Italian authorities over the return of several antique artifacts that had been obtained from an Italian dealer under investigation for selling looted antiquities. The museum "deplores the illegal trade in antiquities" and officials said they have made it a priority to identify and return looted treasures from other countries. ...http://news.yahoo.com/dallas-art-museum-returns-stolen-mosaic-turkish-officials-223701377.htmlTue, 04 Dec 2012 17:37:01 -0500Reutersdallas-art-museum-returns-stolen-mosaic-turkish-officials-223701377<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/louvre-comes-poor-french-city-raising-eyebrows-124754403.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/b_emnGqxySpnvAdWQH_UtQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/0c6b60c80213a522220f6a706700ef62.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="A woman walk past &quot;La Vierge, l&#039;Enfant Jesus et Sainte Anne&quot; by Leonard de Vinci in the Louvre Museum in Lens, northern France, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. The museum in Lens, to open the 12 Dec, is part of a strategy to spread art beyond the traditional bastions of culture in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)" align="left" title="A woman walk past &quot;La Vierge, l&#039;Enfant Jesus et Sainte Anne&quot; by Leonard de Vinci in the Louvre Museum in Lens, northern France, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. The museum in Lens, to open the 12 Dec, is part of a strategy to spread art beyond the traditional bastions of culture in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)" border="0" /></a>The Louvre has embarked on an ambitious quest ? opening a ?150 million ($196 million) extension in an abandoned coal mining town in northern France that has an unemployment rate nearly three times the national average.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/louvre-comes-poor-french-city-raising-eyebrows-124754403.htmlTue, 04 Dec 2012 11:37:35 -0500Associated Presslouvre-comes-poor-french-city-raising-eyebrows-124754403<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/louvre-comes-poor-french-city-raising-eyebrows-124754403.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/b_emnGqxySpnvAdWQH_UtQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/0c6b60c80213a522220f6a706700ef62.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="A woman walk past &quot;La Vierge, l&#039;Enfant Jesus et Sainte Anne&quot; by Leonard de Vinci in the Louvre Museum in Lens, northern France, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. The museum in Lens, to open the 12 Dec, is part of a strategy to spread art beyond the traditional bastions of culture in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)" align="left" title="A woman walk past &quot;La Vierge, l&#039;Enfant Jesus et Sainte Anne&quot; by Leonard de Vinci in the Louvre Museum in Lens, northern France, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. The museum in Lens, to open the 12 Dec, is part of a strategy to spread art beyond the traditional bastions of culture in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)" border="0" /></a>The Louvre has embarked on an ambitious quest ? opening a ?150 million ($196 million) extension in an abandoned coal mining town in northern France that has an unemployment rate nearly three times the national average.</p><br clear="all"/>The San Francisco Opera will present the world premiere of Tobias Picker's "Dolores Claiborne" on Sept. 18 next year.http://news.yahoo.com/pickers-claiborne-premiere-sf-opera-033130292.htmlMon, 03 Dec 2012 22:31:51 -0500Associated Presspickers-claiborne-premiere-sf-opera-033130292The Dallas Museum of Art has returned an ancient mosaic to Turkish officials after discovering it was stolen.http://news.yahoo.com/dallas-museum-returns-stolen-mosaic-turkey-212923187.htmlMon, 03 Dec 2012 16:29:23 -0500Associated Pressdallas-museum-returns-stolen-mosaic-turkey-212923187LONDON (Reuters) - Turner Prize-winning Scottish artist Douglas Gordon has criticized auction house Christie's after a solid gold sculpture was stolen from the auction house's London warehouse. Gordon's 2007 "The Left Hand and the Right Hand Have Abandoned One Another" was reported missing by the world's biggest auction house on November 12 and is believed to have an insurance value of around 500,000 pounds ($800,000). But Gordon complained that he was not informed about the theft until more than two weeks later. ...http://news.yahoo.com/uk-artist-hits-christies-over-stolen-180244410.htmlFri, 30 Nov 2012 13:02:44 -0500Reutersuk-artist-hits-christies-over-stolen-180244410Spanish poet and essayist Jose Manuel Caballero Bonald has won the 2012 Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honor.http://news.yahoo.com/spanish-poet-wins-cervantes-literature-prize-134828518.htmlThu, 29 Nov 2012 09:40:24 -0500Associated Pressspanish-poet-wins-cervantes-literature-prize-134828518<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-artist-gets-national-stage-holiday-white-house-230805372.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/GUlfcMYpYhNU6_irqZUVcQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-11-28T230805Z_1_CBRE8AR1S9S00_RTROPTP_2_ARTS-US-USA-WHITEHOUSE-HOLIDAYS.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="Holiday decorations at the White House in Washington" align="left" title="Holiday decorations at the White House in Washington" border="0" /></a>CHICAGO (Reuters) - To help decorate the White House for the Christmas season this year, President Barack Obama turned to an artist from his hometown. David Lee Csicsko, a Chicago mosaic artist who specializes in public installations, designed the annual display in the corridor leading to the East Room and the State Dining Room, both areas that are elaborately decorated at the beginning of each holiday season. ...</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-artist-gets-national-stage-holiday-white-house-230805372.htmlWed, 28 Nov 2012 18:08:05 -0500Reuterschicago-artist-gets-national-stage-holiday-white-house-230805372<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-artist-gets-national-stage-holiday-white-house-230805372.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/GUlfcMYpYhNU6_irqZUVcQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2012-11-28T230805Z_1_CBRE8AR1S9S00_RTROPTP_2_ARTS-US-USA-WHITEHOUSE-HOLIDAYS.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="Holiday decorations at the White House in Washington" align="left" title="Holiday decorations at the White House in Washington" border="0" /></a>CHICAGO (Reuters) - To help decorate the White House for the Christmas season this year, President Barack Obama turned to an artist from his hometown. David Lee Csicsko, a Chicago mosaic artist who specializes in public installations, designed the annual display in the corridor leading to the East Room and the State Dining Room, both areas that are elaborately decorated at the beginning of each holiday season. ...</p><br clear="all"/><p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/van-gogh-john-lennon-letters-coming-ny-auction-112315549.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/XnWG8_yt.FrdojZVBRaxeg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3B4b2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT04NTt3PTEzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c2519bbc812b2c21220f6a7067000404.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="This undated photo provided by Profiles in History shows the first page of a handwritten letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton. The two-page letter is expected to draw $20,000 to $30,000 during an online and phone auction by Profiles in History on Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Profiles in History)" align="left" title="This undated photo provided by Profiles in History shows the first page of a handwritten letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton. The two-page letter is expected to draw $20,000 to $30,000 during an online and phone auction by Profiles in History on Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Profiles in History)" border="0" /></a>An upcoming auction of over 300 historical documents includes rare letters written by Vincent van Gogh, George Washington, John Lennon and other iconic figures.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/van-gogh-john-lennon-letters-coming-ny-auction-112315549.htmlWed, 28 Nov 2012 11:52:32 -0500Associated Pressvan-gogh-john-lennon-letters-coming-ny-auction-112315549<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/van-gogh-john-lennon-letters-coming-ny-auction-112315549.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/XnWG8_yt.FrdojZVBRaxeg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3B4b2ZmPTUwO3B5b2ZmPTA7cT04NTt3PTEzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/c2519bbc812b2c21220f6a7067000404.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="This undated photo provided by Profiles in History shows the first page of a handwritten letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton. The two-page letter is expected to draw $20,000 to $30,000 during an online and phone auction by Profiles in History on Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Profiles in History)" align="left" title="This undated photo provided by Profiles in History shows the first page of a handwritten letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton. The two-page letter is expected to draw $20,000 to $30,000 during an online and phone auction by Profiles in History on Dec. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Profiles in Hist

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/arts

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Video: The road ahead after 2012's political circus

Hugh Hefner, 86, weds Crystal Harris, 26

Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris are on their way to happily ever after! The Playboy founder, 86, and his model girlfriend, 26, tied the knot in an intimate ceremony on New Year's Eve at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles, a mansion source tells Us Weekly.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/hardball/50240237/

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Protesters march for women's safety in India on New Year's Eve

Protesters in India's major cities demanded safety for women in the wake of the death Friday of a 23-year-old woman who was gang raped in Delhi.

By Shivam Vij,?Correspondent / December 31, 2012

Demonstrators burn an effigy depicting rapists during a protest in New Delhi December 30. The body of a woman whose gang rape provoked protests and rare national debate about violence against women in India arrived back in New Delhi early on Sunday and was quickly cremated at a private ceremony.

Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Enlarge

Groups of protesters in India's top cities of Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata rang in the new year with candle light marches and protest songs to demand safety for women in the wake of the death Friday of a 23-year-old woman who was raped and brutally assaulted in a bus in the capital.

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The protests were called "Take Back the Night," emphasizing that women had the right to be out in the city in the night. Men are generally more visible outside the home in India, particularly at night time. The rallies come in the wake of comments by several politicians that the increase in rape was caused by women wearing make-up or mini-skirts.

The female victim remains unidentified in media reports, but her story has transfixed India for the past fortnight. Calls have intensified for reforms of the police and judicial system which rarely punishes rapists. Analysts point out, however, that legal reform can only go so far without changing underlying cultural attitudes that keep women from full public participation. ?

The protest in the cities tonight aimed at starting to change the culture, and in the case of Delhi, pushed back on speech controls by a government that has been slow to empathize with the popular outrage. Rally organizers here did?not take police permission, which is not easily forthcoming for areas not demarcated for protests. Police presence was light, in contrast to police crack-down on protesters a week ago.

"This is a turning point in which a new generation is redefining the contract between the state and the citizen as also between the genders," says political commentator Shuddhabrata Sengupta. "It is great that while many of the protesters are angry, ... they refused to be blackmailed into calling for capital punishment."

In Delhi, around 200 protesters, men and women alike, gathered at the cinema complex where the deceased woman had gone to see a movie with a friend before boarding the bus in which she was raped and assaulted. They marched from the cinema complex to a prominent mall a kilometer away. Not far from here, the bus stand where she had boarded the bus became a memorial with wreaths and candles.

The protesters chanted slogans to the beat of cymbals demanding azadi, or freedom, for women: "Azadi in the night, in the day, in the mall, in the bus, in the train, in pubs and offices and in the Parliament too; azadi to love and marry, and to not marry, from moral policing, to choose our partners, to dance, to not follow dress codes, to not be raped."

One of the organizers, Rakhi Sehgal, says, "Our effort is to give the message that the night belongs to us. We want to be able to walk the streets in the night without fear of sexual harassment." She said that police patrols in the night should be increased. "Currently, if a policeman sees us on the road he asks us not if we are fine but what we are doing out so late. That needs to change," she said.

Although the protests were small in size amid the crackers that welcomed the new year, some new year's parties were cancelled, including by India's defense forces. Many neighborhoods across Delhi and its suburbs held candle-light vigils and marches since the woman's death.

Bangalore-based artist Jasmen Patheja has ran the Blank Noise Project?against street sexual harassment since 2003, which has, among other?interventions, held midnight events to reclaim the street.

Ms. Patheja, who participated in a similar protest today in Kolkata, says, "Something is changing. I feel it. Reports on sexual assaults earlier would come with warnings for women to 'be careful' and blame. But now we're at a tipping point when many are unlearning such warnings and asserting our rights." ? ?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/64Ax_D49zow/Protesters-march-for-women-s-safety-in-India-on-New-Year-s-Eve

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