Daily Archives: May 27, 2013

A light at the opera! Sydney Opera House given 3D makeover as biggest festival in the southern hemisphere transforms famous skyline

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s1The Sydney Opera House was given a multi-coloured makeover as it lit up the night sky on the opening ceremony for the Vivid Sydney festival – in 3D.

Vivid Sydney, the largest light, music and ideas festival in the southern hemisphere, did not hold back when it opened for the fifth time this weekend.

The world famous Opera House was illuminated in a 3D-mapped ‘visual feast’ of lighting artistry by Australian creative innovators The Spinifex Group to celebrate the festival’s first night.

Vivid Sydney features lighting installations around the Sydney harbour foreshore, live music performances, and over 120 creative industry events.

A ‘festival of ideas’, Vivid Sydney is expected to attract over 550,000 people before it ends on June 10th.

The light artistry part of the festival, Vivid Light, has tripled in size since last year.

In a world first, Sydney’s famous Harbour Bridge will come alive with an interactive lighting installation on the Bridge’s western face.

The display will be controlled from an interactive touch screen, so the public can design the bridge at will.

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Mother and two daughters dumped in Nile were ‘murdered in honour killings by 10 male relatives who believed they were having affairs’

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A mother and two daughters were allegedly killed by ten male relatives who believed they were having affairs.

The men are believed to have strangled their relatives in southern Egypt.

A body was found floating in the river Nile, near the town of Esna, close to the ancient city of Luxor.

It has been reported that the men used sharp tools to beat the three women in attacks that were meant to protect their family’s honour.

According to one of the suspects, who spoke to police on Thursday, the men wrapped the women’s bodies and blankets, weighted them with stones and threw them into the river Nile.

A security official said that women are murdered for violating traditional morals.

The ‘honour killings’ are not uncommon in conservative Southern Egypt, where women’s actions are thought to bring shame on the family.

Police are searching for the nine other suspects and two remaining bodies.

Honour killings are against Egyptian law, and perpetrators are prosecuted if they are arrested.

Courts are sometimes sympathetic to the accused and give lighter sentences.

 

 

Thousands continue to rampage across Paris as gay marriage protest enters second day of violence

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Paris has been hit with a second day of riots as thousands hit the streets to protest against the introduction of gay marriage in France.

Since yesterday, 293 people have been arrested, with 231 of those charged with public order offences.

Most of the trouble started on Sunday night, following a mass rally in the centre of the city which attracted around 150,000 people.

The worst clashes were between CRS riot police and hooded right-wing ‘ultras’ around famous monuments including Les Invalides, where Napoleon Bonaparte is buried.

‘Traditional France has been threatened by these new measures and that’s why we have taken to the streets,’ said Jerome Martin, a 23-year-old protester.

Mr Martin spoke as hundreds threw rocks and smoke bombs at the police, who responded with tear gas and baton charges.

There were numerous injuries on both sides, with the worst fights breaking out on the grass esplanade opposite Les Invalides, and in surrounding streets.

Journalists were also attacked, with at least two seriously injured.

The area is next door to the French parliament, where President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government introduced and then passed the gay marriage bill.

It meant that France became the 14th country in the world to allow same sex unions.

The protests, which are strongly backed by the Roman Catholic Church, have become a chance for the French right to rally against the left.

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said some 100 known far-right protesters were among those arrested in the early hours of Monday.

Some 4,500 police officers were on duty in Paris on Sunday to deal with the huge crowds.

France’s first gay wedding is due to take place on Wednesday in Montpellier, in the south of the country.

Despite the violent rally, a survey published on Sunday showed 53 per cent of French people support gay marriage and adoption.

 

 

Guardian launches online Australian edition

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Britain’s Guardian newspaper on Monday launched a new online edition in Australia where print media is struggling, pledging an independent perspective and a multimedia approach.

The Guardian, the world’s third most read newspaper website, unveiled the new site with an exclusive interview with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and a pledge it will operate without a paywall.

This is in contrast to Fairfax and News Limited which dominate the Australian media landscape and are increasingly asking readers to pay for digital content.

“Starting today, we’ll be reporting and blogging, providing commentary, debate and community interaction as well as using cutting edge data visualisation and interactive technology to engage readers in new ways”.

The Guardian says 1.1 million Australians regularly view the newspaper’s global website, making it the fourth biggest market of digital readers after Britain, the United States and Canada.

According to data service Comscore, the Guardian is the world’s third most viewed newspaper website with 38.9 million readers as of last December, behind the Daily Mail with 50.0 million and The New York Times at 48.6 million.

Slovenian flyer completes eco-friendly Arctic voyage

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Slovenian adventurer and environmentalist Matevz Lenarcic on Sunday became the first person to fly an ultra-light plane from Europe to America and back over the North Pole, as he landed in Ljubljana after an epic voyage.

“I’ve had more trouble than I had expected, and that prolonged the expedition but what matters is that me and the plane have arrived safely,” the 54-year-old told a crowd of well-wishers.

But his month-long journey was not all plain sailing.

The trained biologist had to make an unscheduled stop in Saint-Nazaire, northwestern France, due to weather conditions and an Irish airport did not have the type of fuel required for his aircraft.

“I’ve had many unexpected events. That is why this trip has taken 14 days longer than initially planned,” Lenarcic said Thursday on arrival at Saint-Nazaire.

The plane was equipped to measure air pollution over the North Pole — a hot-spot for global warming — and Lenarcic said all measurements had gone as planned.