Evangeline Lilly joins The Hobbit

Evangeline Lilly and Barry Humphries have joined the cast of 'The Hobbit' movies, director Sir Peter Jackson has confirmed.

 

 

Evangeline Lilly has joined the cast of 'The Hobbit' movies.

The former 'Lost' actress has signed on to play a new character, Tauriel, but director Sir Peter Jackson refused to give any further details about the woodland elf.

The filmmaker revealed on his Facebook page: "Her name means 'daughter of Mirkwood' and, beyond that, we must leave you guessing! (No, there is no romantic connection to Legolas.)"

Also joining the cast for the start of the second block of shooting is Australian actor Barry Humphrie s- best known for his female comedic alter ego Dame Edna Everage – who will portray the Goblin King, with extensive use of motion capture technology.

Peter said: "We're looking forward to seeing him invest the Goblin King with the delicate sensitivity and emotional depth this character deserves."

Last week, it was announced Luke Evans and Benedict Cumberbatch had joined the cast of the two movies, playing Bard and Smaug respectively.

'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' and 'The Hobbit: There and Back Again' will be released in 2012 and 2013 respectively. Both releases will star Martin Freeman as the titular character.

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Syria: cousin of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad given travel ban

A cousin of the Syrian president has been banned from traveling abroad as the government says it is investigated the violence gripping the country.

Bashar al-Assad, Syrian President 

 

  

The move appears to be an attempt by Bashar al-Assad to show that he is serious about investigating the bloodshed.

State-run SANA news agency said the ban was imposed on Brig. Gen. Atef Najib, who ran the security department in the southern province of Daraa.

The uprising erupted there in mid-March after the arrest of 15 teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti.

Judge Mohammed Deeb al-Muqatran of the Special Judicial Committee says the travel ban is precautionary in order for Najib to be available for questioning. 

Al-Muqatran was quoted as saying on Monday that "no one has immunity, whoever he is."

On Sunday a mass grave containing the bodies of at least 10 soldiers was discovered by Syrian troops in a town stormed by government forces in the north of the country. 


At least four of the corpses in the grave, found outside the military police headquarters in the town of Jisr al-Shughour, near the Turkish border, had been decapitated or struck on the head by an axe, according to those present.
The government claimed the bodies, all still in uniform, were evidence of an attack by "armed gangs" on security forces it said claimed 120 lives last week.
But residents and some defecting soldiers who have fled over the border claimed that the dead were local recruits shot by their officers for refusing to open fire on peaceful protesters. 

They also claimed that the army, which moved in under cover from helicopters and tank fire, had used brutal tactics to recapture the town at the weekend.
"The soldiers told us that they would kick us into the sea," Mohammed Migdem, 60, told The Daily Telegraph, waving his arms angrily.


"They killed my uncle's son and I helped lift several dead bodies into cars with my own hands. There is a war going on in Syria against the people."
Witnesses also described how they had seen two boys trying to escape who were killed by fire from government tanks.
The unrest in Syria has claimed 1,500 lives since March, according to human rights groups, with no sign that the regime is managing to deter opposition.
There were even demonstrations at the weekend in the capital, Damascus.
Britain, France and America have led international criticism of the violence, but lack of support from the Arab League has made outside intervention likely.
China and Russia have also so far opposed a motion of condemnation at the United Nations.
"There is no prospect of getting through the UN a resolution such as the UN resolution 1973 on Libya," William Hague, the foreign secretary, said on Sky News. That resolution authorised the no-fly zone currently in place against Col Muammar Gaddafi's forces.
"In the case of Libya there was a clear call from the Arab League for action, and that was a transformative intervention. There is no such call in the case of Syria."
Mr Hague added that Syria was "undoubtedly being assisted by the Iranian government" through supplying "equipment" and advising how to crush protests.

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Keith Olbermann’s New Show Makes TV Debut Tonight

Keith Olbermann returns to television Monday night in his new gig at Current TV. The show will air at a familiar time (8:00 p.m.) and with a familiar name, Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Olbermann left MSNBC, where Countdown had aired since March 2003, in January 2011. Olbermann joins the fledgling Current TV, not only as its marquee host, but also as its chief news officer. His role will extend beyond Countdown and he will be heavily involved with developing news programming across Current TV.
On a recent conference call with members of the media, Olbermann opened up more about the format of the show and some of the frequent contributing guests. It sounds like Countdown will continue much as it did on MSNBC, albeit with a slightly altered cast of regular characters.
Olbermann repeatedly underscored Current’s unique position as an independently owned news network. To wit, the first promo spot for the show is all about combatting the “heavily biased corporate-sponsored spin” that saturates modern media. The underlying message is that as an independent entity, Current TV (and Olbermann, by proxy) can cut through to the truth.
Of course, bias exists with or without corporate backing, and I have little doubt that Olbermann’s own gaze and point of view will carry over not only to Countdown, but to the other news programming on Current TV.

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Where’s the Digital Focus?

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One of the more disappointing aspects about the launch of the new Countdown is the lack — at least thus far — of a clear-cut digital strategy. It’s more than a little ironic that Current TV, a network that was originally formed with a focus on online content, is remaking itself to be more of the standard cable network, especially in an age when the established cable networks are trying to be more social.
Olbermann’s former network, MSNBC, has long had as strong digital presence. Not only are clips from its various programs available online (and the network has streaming deals with certain telecoms for mobile TV initiatives) almost instantly, the network has provided video podcasts of its primetime shows — including the former incarnation of Countdown. MSNBC also has a strong presence in the mobile app space.
In contrast, Current has reduced much of its online video presence to clips and promos for certain series. The website for Countdown, while beautiful and well-designed, will bring users exclusive behind-the-scenes video clips and curated clips from the nightly show. In other words, if your cable provider doesn’t carry Current, you won’t be able to watch the full show.
To combat that, Current is actively embarking on a “I Want My MTV”-esque campaign to get users to use social media, email and the phone to petition cable operators to add Current to their lineup.
Here’s a video that Olbermann made addressing cable television provider Cablevision:
It’s a little frustrating that the network is knowledgeable enough to know that Twitter and Facebook are important outlets to get the attention of cable operators, yet aren’t willing to take the next step of offering online access to content.Unlike CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, Current TV isn’t a cable news lineup staple. For that reason, Olbermann is not promising blockbuster traditional ratings. He pointed out that Countdown in the early days on MSNBC was only getting a small fraction of its audience circa 2011.
That’s a fair point and one we will certainly keep in mind when the reports are released. Still, we have to question the reliance on a traditional cable strategy when the industry model as a whole is moving to a more malleable and digital space.
My hope is that Current TV and Olbermann will learn to embrace digital audiences sooner rather than later. Yes, it’s important to target the existing cable market, but the focus should also be on the growing segment of users that consume their content — including news — online.

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Yemen opposition shrugs off Gulf mediation offer

Members of Yemen's political opposition dismissed an offer from Gulf Arab neighbors on Wednesday to resume mediation in the political crisis, which has brought the country to the brink of civil war.

Gulf states, fearful of a war on their doorstep, have tried repeatedly to ease President Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office after six months of protests against him and a bout of open war in the capital Sanaa.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a bloc of neighboring monarchies, did not say how their new offer was different to several previous efforts to end the Yemen crisis.

Sultan al-Atwani, a member of a group of opposition parties which had accepted a previous deal only to see Saleh reject it, called any new bid doomed from the start.

"It would have been better for the GCC to be braver, and specify who has rejected this initiative and brought Yemen to where it is now," he told .

Saleh, undergoing treatment in Saudi Arabia for wounds suffered in an attack on his compound last month, has backed out of several previous deals to step down.

In May, fighting erupted between his forces and those of tribal leaders and army units which had turned on him, reducing parts of Sanaa to ruin. A shaky ceasefire has held since Saleh left for treatment.

Youth groups over which the opposition parties have little influence have rejected main elements of past GCC deals, including the prospect Saleh could be immune from prosecution.

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Greeks rage against austerity while EU argues

Striking Greeks raged against a new wave of austerity on Wednesday after euro zone finance ministers failed to agree how to make private creditors contribute to a second bailout for their indebted country.

As workers staged a national strike, thousands of protesters -- some chanting "Thieves, traitors! Where did the money go" -- massed at parliament to try to prevent lawmakers enacting more tax hikes, spending cuts and sell-offs of state property.

Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou must push through a five-year deficit reduction and privatisation programme to continue receiving aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund and avoid default after Greece fell behind on its first 110 billion euros (97.0 billion pounds) rescue plan.

In Brussels, finance ministers of the 17-nation single currency area debated late into the night how to make private bondholders share the cost of the second rescue in two years without triggering even worse turmoil in financial markets.

They are aiming for a deal at a European Union summit on June 23-24 and will meet again on Sunday evening in Luxembourg. However Tuesday's apparent impasse, and the absence of the usual news conference, sent the cost of insuring Greek debt against default rocketing to an all-time high.

Highlighting contagion risks from the Greek crisis, shares in top French banks tumbled after credit ratings agency Moody's said it might downgrade them because of their exposure to Greece's debt-stricken economy.

Greek bank stocks also fell by as much as 7 percent on growing political uncertainty.

The French government sought to deflect market pressure by noting -- perhaps pointedly in the light of differences between Paris and Berlin over the Greek bailout -- that German banks were actually more exposed.

"French banks are exposed to Greece... (but) they are less exposed than the German banking sector, for instance," Secretary of State for European Affairs Laurent Wauquiez said.

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Jordan King promises to speed democratic reforms

 Jordan's King Abdullah said on Sunday he was committed to pushing ahead with democratic reforms, but believed street pressure for change was a recipe for chaos. 

 











The monarch, speaking in a televised speech marking his 12 years as ruler and ninety years of the state's creation, said he backed a new electoral law proposed by a government-appointed panel that would allow for a cabinet to be elected by a parliamentary majority rather than being chosen by him.

"We hope these recommendations ensure a modern electoral law that leads to a parliament that is representative of all Jordanians," he said.

Parliaments are currently elected under laws that ensure a pliant pro-government assembly composed of tribal loyalists.

The Islamist-led opposition has expressed disappointment over the limited nature of the reforms proposed by the committee that they boycotted and which came after weeks of street protests earlier this year calling for political changes.

The proposals unveiled last week keep intact a gross underrepresentation of Jordan's cities, mostly inhabited by Palestinians, to ensure a dominance by rural, sparsely populated tribal areas over the large cities, including the capital which have long been the opposition Islamist strongholds.

"As we witness the changes in the region, this demands making a difference between the required democratic changes and between the dangers of chaos and (fitna) sedition on the other," he said.

The Hashemite monarchy is viewed as an arbiter among feuding tribes and a unifying force that holds together the country's two main competing groups, East Bank native Jordanians and their countrymen of Palestinian origin.

The monarch has faced pressures for reforms by a broad calls from the Islamists, the country's largest political force to leftists and tribal figures, to relinquish his extensive powers, ranging from appointing cabinets to dissolving parliament.

Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood, the largest political party, and liberal politicians alongside opposition tribal figures say political freedoms in Jordan have been eroded in recent years and accuse the authorities of resisting change.

The monarch defended his reformist credentials since he ascended the throne in 1999, saying he had long pushed for reforms which he has long accused vested interests within the establishment of derailing.

King Abdullah said he wanted a empowered legislature and amendments to the constitution that would usher greater political rights but could not accept reform pressures from unnamed radical groups that agitated through street protests.

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Hillary warns Africa of 'new colonialism'

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday warned Africa of a creeping "new colonialism" from foreign investors and governments interested only in extracting the continent's natural resources to enrich themselves and not the African people.
Hillary said that African leaders must ensure that foreign projects are sustainable and benefit all their citizens, not only elites. A day earlier, she cautioned that China's massive investments and business interests in Africa need to be closely watched so that the African people are not taken advantage of.
"It is easy, and we saw that during colonial times, it is easy to come in, take out natural resources, pay off leaders and leave," Clinton said. "And when you leave, you don't leave much behind for the people who are there. We don't want to see a new colonialism in Africa."
Clinton said the United States didn't want foreign governments and investors to fail in Africa, but they should also give back to the local communities.
"We want them to do well, but also we want them to do good," she said.
"We don't want them to undermine good governance, we don't want them to basically deal with just the top elites, and frankly too often pay for their concessions or their opportunities to invest."
Clinton said that American development aid and infrastructure projects come with good governance conditions and that the Obama administration is interested in Africa and the African people. Their success, she said, is in the long-term interest of both the African people and the US.
She spoke in a pan-African television interview in the Zambian capital. Clinton is the first secretary of state to visit Zambia since Henry Kissinger came in 1976.

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Greek PM rebuffs austerity opponents, vows June vote

Protesters shout slogans and lift a Greek flag during a rally against austerity economic measures and corruption in Athens' Constitution square, June 9, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

The Greek government defended its new austerity package from attacks in parliament on Friday, saying it was the only way to stave off bankruptcy, and made a new call for opposition parties to back the plan. Prime Minister George Papandreou's plan almost doubles the belt-tightening measures for 2011 already agreed with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, after the lenders judged that Athens had missed goals outlined under its bailout.
The ruling Socialist party has 156 deputies in the 300-seat house but growing numbers of its members are expressing unease at proposals including cutting spending and raising taxes to reduce the deficit by 6.5 billion euros more this year than first planned.
Papandreou is anxious to pass the plan for more austerity through 2015 despite strikes, mass street protests and dissident voices within his own ruling Socialist party.
"The medicine is not pleasant and the treatment requires devotion and commitment," he told parliament.
"No prime minister of any country wants to go out with a beggar's tray and collect money from other countries ... I certainly don't, but I do it for Greece."
Papandreou is fighting to get not only opposition parties but also his reluctant PASOK party behind the strategy, a condition for receiving more aid from international lenders who threw Greece a 110 billion euro ($160 billion) emergency funding lifeline last year.

PROTESTS AT PARLIAMENT

According to a weekly schedule released by parliament, lawmakers will start debating the midterm plan in the chamber's economic affairs committee on Wednesday.
That will coincide with a nationwide strike by labor unions expected to draw tens of thousands of demonstrators to Syntagma square, parliament's front stoop and the site of two weeks of nightly grassroots protests.
The square is also the convergence point of daily marches by staff in firms earmarked for privatization who oppose the government's pledge to raise 50 billion euros in the selloff of state-owned companies by 2015.
In a televised address to the nation, Papandreou invited proposals for the plan from opposition parties and called for cooperation to improve Athens' position in talks with Brussels ahead of a June 23-24 EU summit.
"I call on the leadership of all parties to cooperate," he said in a televised announcement. "There are many and important points where we converge. With a national consensus, we can negotiate jointly with our partners."
In a move aimed at reducing resistance by the main opposition New Democracy party to the measures, Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou said the government was considering submitting a new tax bill in September cutting VAT and corporate taxes and said he hoped parliament would approve the mid-term plan by the end of June.
The IMF and EU have demanded wider political consensus in Greece before they give the debt-ridden euro zone member more cash. But the main opposition groups have vowed to vote against the new measures, saying they are choking economic growth.
"The mid-term plan is unreliable, unjust and ineffective. It is a de facto confession of the failure of the bailout," New Democracy party spokesman Yannis Michelakis said in a statement.
European officials are still trying to work out a plan which hits private investors for some of the cost of the new funding plan, expected to be worth around an additional 120 billion euros including 30 billion from sales of Greek state assets.
Figures on Thursday showed the economy is in worse shape than initially feared, with gross domestic product tumbling 5.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

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Web giants promote new IP system

The biggest ever test of the internet's new address system is taking place. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Bing and Facebook are among the companies switching-on IPv6 versions of their websites for the one day trial.  the technology is gradually being introduced because the world is running out of older IPv4 addresses as more devices come online. Companies and home users may need new networking equipment, however the transition is likely to take years. World IPv6 day is partly a technical exercise by internet companies to see how the technology works, and partly an awareness-raising initiative. For the small percentage of users already set up to access IPv6, they will be able to connect through the usual URLs - such as Google.com or Yahoo.com. Behind the scenes, their browsers will be pointed to the new, much longer IP address. New equipment Groups involved in IPv6 day say that everyone will have to make the change eventually, but users should not worry at this stage if they are not switched over. "This is not a year 2000 thing. Planes are not going to start falling out of the sky," said Philip Sheldrake, a board member at non-profit group 6UK, which is helping to promote the system. "The web will continue to work, but future growth would be stymied. It is just like when we used up the phone numbers in London." For users with an ordinary domestic internet connection, the changeover may involve upgrading their hardware. "A lot of routers at the moment are already capable of supporting IPv6. What they need is a firmware update," "ISPs should ship new routers or offer those updates. We are making sure all our fibre routers are ready for IPv6." Mr Fletcher said that the long term nature of the changeover meant that customers of most ISPs would receive compatible equipment through the natural cycle of upgrades. The business end Becoming IPv6 compatible is a slightly more complicated task for corporate internet users. Bringing their systems up to standard will typically involve investing in and installing new networking systems. As with home users, for many this will form part of the normal cycle of upgrading and replacing. However, the lack of any firm deadline, combined with the hefty price tag, means that some are dragging their heels. "Corporates are probably quite far behind," said Sebastien Lahtinen from Thinkbroadband.com. "They are trying to put off the expense and there are a lot of technologies that they can use to do that." However, Mr Lahtinen said that the leaders of those businesses should realise that this change was going to happen and that they needed to make the investment. Even though IPv4 will continue working for at least the next decade, there is value in changing early according to Philip Sheldrake. "You have to make the transition. It is better to do that sooner than later because it demonstrates that you are a modern, well organised company that is visible on the modern infrastructure of the internet." REALLY BIG NUMBERS IPv4 was conceived in the early 1980s as a way of identifying individual connections to a computer network. It is typically made up of 32 bits, written as 12 digits, e.g. 112.233.189.123. That gives a maximum of around 4.3bn addresses. However, the rapid growth in PCs, smartphones and other internet connected devices means those addresses are close to being used up, with an estimated 80 million still to be allocated. IPv6 is a 128bit system, written in hexadecimal (base 16 counting using numbers and letters), e.g. 21DA:00D3:0000:2F3B:02AA:00FF:FE28:9C5A. The system gives a maximum of 340 undecillion possible addresses (1 undecillion = 10 followed by 35 zeros in the British numbering system). The additional capacity, argue proponents of IPv6, will be needed to cater to the so-called "internet of things" where devices such as TVs, fridges and home heating systems are connected to the net. \

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Al Qaeda leader Ilyas Kashmiri planned new death squad to avenge bin Laden

Al-Qaeda's chief military commander was plotting a new terrorist group called Lashkar-e-Osama to launch a wave of revenge suicide attacks when he was reportedly killed in a drone strike last week, Pakistani officials have claimed.

Ilyas Kashmiri Photo: REUTERS

 

 

Ilyas Kashmiri had convened a meeting of militant leaders to discuss hitting foreign embassies and also trying to poison Nato food supplies en route to Afghanistan to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden.

The plans were disclosed as distrust between Washington and Islamabad still surrounded Kashmiri's reported death on June 3.

US officials said their working assumption was that he remained alive despite assurances from Pakistan.

His new squad had plans to target the American, Saudi and Emirati embassies in Pakistan, according to reports.

Kashmiri called Pakistani Taliban commanders, including Asmatullah Maavia, Amjad Farooqui and Badar Mansoor to the meeting in North Waziristan a few days before he was reportedly killed.

They discussed blowing up the American embassy, assassinating visiting Chinese dignitaries and targeting the country's biggest munitions factory in Wah.
Auto rickshaws laden with explosives were suggested as one means of carrying out the attacks.
Large quantities of poison would also be procured to contaminate Nato food supplies passing through Pakistan on their way to troops in Afghanistan, the 
Kashmiri had a $5 million (£3 million) bounty on his head and been leader of Harakat-ul-Jihad al-Islam (HUJI) before forming the feared 313 militant brigade.
He was thought to take his orders directly from bin Laden.
Rehman Malik, Pakistan's interior minister, said he could confirm "100 per cent", that Kashmiri had died when a Predator drone fired three missiles into a house in South Waziristan as he and associates drank tea in the garden.
However, US officials have been unable to confirm the death.
One said: "It wouldn't be the first time that reports of his death have been wrong. We're simply unable at this time to confirm reports of Kashmiri's demise. Our working assumption is that he's still walking around."

 

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The national budget of Bangladesh the fiscal 2011-2012

The national budget of Bangladesh the fiscal 2011-2012 will be announced within the next couple of months. What’s your opinion & suggestions that you would expect in new budget?

Give your opinion & helps government to implement a pure budget for all the peoples of Bangladesh.

This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported license.

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Priyanka Vs Rahul on World Environment Day

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Priyanka Chopra More Pics

Bollywood actors Priyanka Chopra and Rahul Bose are to compete on the World Environment Day June 5 to motivate people to do their bit to save the mother earth.
The Bollywood stars are facing off in a new video for the ultimate Environment Day Challenge - where they are calling individuals, groups, families and schools, even entire communities.
"And for Priyanka and Rahul, this is where the battle lines get drawn. When registering a green activity on the site, people will have the opportunity to pledge their activity to either one celebrity or the other," said a statement issued by UN here.

Priyanka has pledged to plant a tree for every green activity registered in her name while Rahul has pledged to plant two.
"Whether it's switching from plastic bags to cloth bags, car-pooling with colleagues or organising a tree-planting day, green activities can be big, small, local, international, noisy, quiet ... just as long as they're green," it said.
India for the first time is the global host of United Nations Environment Day this year.
UNEP ( United Nations Environment Programme) has given the theme "Forests: Nature at Your Service" in alignment with the UN International Year of Forests, 2011. The theme celebrates the multitude of services - providing clean air, housing rich biodiversity, supplying water - performed by the world's forests.
In the run-up to June 5, the environment ministry has also planned a group of activities, including "Green Walkathon", in partnership with the Delhi government at India Gate.
The other significant feature will be organisation of "Green Haat", involving about 52 partners to showcase initiatives, of forest dwellers, minor forest produce federations of various states, women self-help groups, NGO partners, highlighting the value added forest products at Dilli Haat between June 1-5.
Biodiversity film festival for disadvantaged children, general public, prisoners, and Air Force officials will be organised in partnership with Centre for Media Studies (CMS) in the capital from June 1-4 at National Science Centre, PVR's Cinemas, Tihar Jail and Subroto Park to raise awareness about environmental issues through films from eminent national and international filmmakers.

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