Clinton Indich, 5, Shameeka Indich, 9, and Shancie Indich, 12. (WA Police)

Three children from Perth's south reported missing earlier on Thursday have been found safe and well.

The children from Thornlie were found following public assistance, said police.

The children, aged five, nine and 12, had been missing for more than 24 hours after being last seen at their grandmother's house where they lived.

Summary: Three Perth children aged between five and 12 have been missing since Wednesday afternoon and police have concerns for their welfare.


"When you travel a lot, and when you love to just wander around and get lost, you can end up in the strangest spots." Director

has been documenting his global wanderings since the early 80s; here are scenes from Montana, Australia and California. Panoramic landscapes, offbeat encounters, ghostly visions? Just like his films, then. The exhibition is at the

gallery, London, to 14 May

Summary: Wim Wenders has been documenting his global wanderings since the early 80s; here are scenes from Montana, Australia and California


Several brands have pulled their advertisements from TV Land series "Impastor," and the organization One Million Moms is taking the credit.

The group, a division of the conservative American Family Association, targets the "filth" in media and entertainment and the "negative influences our children are forced to contend with." It has targeted a number of LGBTQ-inclusive media programs and companies in the past, and this time, it has set its sights on "Impastor."

Michael Rosenbaum stars in TV Land's "Impastor" "Impastor" / TVLand

The TV Land series, starring Michael Rosenbaum, is about a con man on the run who assumes the identity of a gay pastor. One Million Moms has called the series "sacrilegious" and believes it is an insult to pastors and Christianity.

Hong Kong-based VTech Toys, a supplier of children's electronic learning products, is one of the brands that pulled its advertisements from the show. On its website, One Million Moms posted the response it received from the company:

"We recently became aware of an error in our advertising programming which caused our product commercial to air during a television show that does not fit in with our family-friendly brand positioning. This unfortunate error has been corrected and appreciate those who have brought this to our attention.

Breakfast chain IHOP also confirmed, in a statement to One Million Moms, that it has pulled its ads from the show.

"We are no longer advertising on 'Impastor.' Thank you for sharing your concern and we hope you & your family dine at IHOP in the near future," IHOP Guest Relations Manager Alex Bresette wrote.

Dating website ChristianMingle, which is part of Spark Networks, not only pulled its ads from "Impastor" -- but from TV Land in general, according to the company's response to One Million Moms

"Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. ChristianMingle remains steadfast in its commitment to the Christian faith and its values. While our current advertising campaign includes TVLand, effective immediately, we have pulled all advertising during Impastor and, for now, on TVLand as we analyze the allocation of our advertising dollars," John Volturo, Chief Marketing officer at Sparks Networks, wrote.

Other recent One Million Moms initiatives include campaigns against Nickelodeon's "Loud House," which includes a married gay couple; the TLC series "I am Jazz," featuring transgender teen Jazz Jennings; and H&M's "She's A Lady" campaign.

Follow NBC OUT on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Summary: Several brands have pulled their advertisements from TV Land series "Impastor," which has a gay storyline, and the organization One Million Moms is taking the credit.


SEOUL, South Korea  South Korea, the world's most wired country, is rushing to turn what sounds like science fiction into everyday life. The government, which succeeded in getting broadband Internet into 72 percent of all households in the last half decade, has marshaled an army of scientists and business leaders to make robots full members of society.

Seokyong Lee for The New York Times

Jupiter, a robot built by a South Korean company for domestic use.

By 2007, networked robots that, say, relay messages to parents, teach children English and sing and dance for them when they are bored, are scheduled to enter mass production. Outside the home, they are expected to guide customers at post offices or patrol public areas, searching for intruders and transmitting images to monitoring centers.

If all goes according to plan, robots will be in every South Korean household between 2015 and 2020. That is the prediction, at least, of the Ministry of Information and Communication, which has grouped more than 30 companies, as well as 1,000 scientists from universities and research institutes, under its wing. Some want to move even faster.

"My personal goal is to put a robot in every home by 2010," said Oh Sang Rok, manager of the ministry's intelligent service robot project.

Reeling from the Asian financial crisis of 1997, South Korea decided that becoming a high-tech nation was the only way to secure its future.

The government deregulated the telecommunications and Internet service industries and made investments as companies laid out cables in cities and into the countryside. The government offered information technology courses to homemakers, subsidized computers for low-income families and made the country the first in the world to have high-speed Internet in every primary, junior and high school.

As with robots and most other specific technologies, the government has had a strong hand in guiding businesses and research centers. Failures have occurred  most spectacularly in biotechnology, when the cloning scientist, Dr. Hwang Woo Suk, was exposed as a fraud  but the successes are many.

South Koreans use futuristic technologies that are years away in the United States; companies like Microsoft and Motorola test products here before introducing them in the United States.

Since January, Koreans have been able to watch television broadcasts on cellphones, free, thanks to government-subsidized technology. In April, South Korea will introduce the first nationwide superfast wireless Internet service, called WiBro, eventually making it possible for Koreans to remain online on the go  at 10 megabits per second, faster than most conventional broadband connections.

South Korea, perhaps more than any other country, is transforming itself through technology. About 17 million of the 48 million South Koreans belong to Cyworld, a Web-based service that is a sort of parallel universe where everyone is interconnected through home pages. The interconnectivity has changed the way and speed with which opinions are formed, about everything from fashion to politics, technology and social science experts said.

Chang Duk Jin, a sociologist at Seoul National University who has studied the effects of technology on society, said it had profoundly influenced domestic politics. Two years ago, after the opposition-led National Assembly impeached President Roh Moo Hyun, a consensus began forming on the Internet that the move was politically motivated  two hours after the vote took place, Mr. Chang said.

"That quickly led to mass demonstrations," he said. "That kind of thing had never happened in Korea before. Everyone is connected to everyone else, so issues spread very fast and kind of unpredictably."

There has been at least one unpredictable side effect: fierce witch hunts. In a case that caused national soul-searching, a woman riding the subway with her dog last year refused to clean up after it defecated in the car. One angry passenger photographed her with a camera-equipped cellphone and later posted the photos. Soon, all of wired South Korea seemed to be on the hunt for "Dog Poop Girl." Several misidentified women were verbally attacked, and finally the woman herself was identified on the Internet and humiliated as the topic of countless online discussions.

Such problems have led the government to consider curbing anonymity on the Internet, a proposal that has drawn strong opposition here. In another response, in February, the government released a 256-page "IT Ethics" textbook for junior and high school students. Teachers are expected to spend 30 hours instructing from the textbook, whose chapters include "Healthy Mobile Phone Culture," and "Protecting Personal Privacy."

"Education has lagged behind the technology," said Park Jung Ho, a professor of computer science at Sunmoon University here.

The government, though, is pushing ahead relentlessly. It has drawn a precise timetable on specific technologies to develop or invent, one of them robotics.

Mr. Oh of the Communication Ministry said South Korea lagged behind American, Japanese and European competitors in robotics but was aiming to be No. 3 by 2013. While other countries have focused on developing military, industrial or humanoid robots, he said, South Korea decided three years ago to develop service robots that, instead of operating independently, derive their intelligence from being part of a network.

Late last year, three types of robots were distributed to 64 randomly selected households, as well as two post offices, with mixed results, Mr. Oh said. In October, a second phase in the testing will put robots in 650 households and 20 public places.

By 2007, the networked robots are expected to be on the market. Yujin Robot started developing prototypes in 2004 and has sold 100, mostly to universities and research institutes, said Shin Kyung Chul, the company's president. It is the leader in making small, $500 robots that move around the house using sensors, vacuuming or sweeping. They have become popular gifts for newlyweds.

One of the networked robots  the two-foot-tall Jupiter with a big monitor in its chest, a round rotating head with big eyes that change shape to emulate emotions  can recognize faces and voices. Jupiter recited a nursery rhyme and danced, as Mr. Shin explained his vision of a robot-centered "intelligent society."

Kim Mun Sang, director of the Center for Intelligent Robotics, which groups about 500 scientists in a project by government and industry, said networked robots needed a "killer app" before they could become fully integrated into the wired society. He said the conditions were not ripe yet and would not be for another "5 to 10 years."

"But eventually robots could change how we live in a way we can't predict right now," Mr. Kim said. "It's like the PC. No one ever thought the PC and the Internet would transform our society the way they have."

Summary: South Korea has marshaled an army of scientists and business leaders to make robots full members of society.


BY Patricia O'Haire & news services

Friday, August 25th 2000, 2:13AM

More PokÃ©mon to spring up

MOVIES - Hoping to continue cashing in on the PokÃ©mon craze that reached fever pitch in the fall, Warner Bros. plans to release a third Pokemon movie in the spring. "PokÃ©mon: The First Movie" was a huge box-office hit; in November, it debuted with the second-biggest five-day opening weekend of any animated film, grossing $51 million.

Patti's voice at Center stage

MUSIC - Patti LuPone will be performing for 19 Sunday and Monday evenings at Lincoln

Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater between Oct. 15 and Dec. 17.

The program, "Matters of the Heart" - also the title of her latest CD, features music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Randy Newman and Stephen Sondheim, as well as standards by Rodgers and Hammerstein. LuPone, most

recently onstage here in the concert version of Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd," has performed this concert at Australia's Sydney Festival, at London's Donmar Warehouse and throughout this country. Tickets go on sale Sept. 9 at the Lincoln Center box office or through TeleCharge.

THEATER - "It Ain't Nothing But the Blues," the Tony-nominated musical, is back in a theater again. The foot-stomping journey of blues music from plantation chants to urban plaints, has moved into the 499-seat B.B. King Blues Club on W. 42nd St. Three of the original Broadway company are still with it: Mississippi Charles Bevel, Carter Calvert and Gregory Parker.

The new Guy in 'Chicago'

THEATER - Jasmine Guy, film, TV, theater and recording star, is joining the cast of "Chicago" on Sept. 5, starring with Charlotte D'Amboise. She formerly appeared here in "Bubbling Brown Sugar," "Leader of the Pack," Dancin' in the Street," "The Wiz" and "Grease." "Chicago" is now in its fourth year on Broadway.

Summary: More PokÃ©mon to spring up MOVIES - Hoping to continue cashing in on the PokÃ©mon craze that reached fever pitch in the fall, Warner Bros. plans to release a third Pokemon movie in the spring. "PokÃ©mon: The First Movie"was a huge box-office hit; in November, it debuted with the second-biggest five-day opening weekend of any animated film, grossing $51 million. Patti's voice at Center stage MUSIC


Sunday, September 10th 2000, 2:14AM

WHERE: Sydney International Archery Park, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Four (men's team and individual and women's team and individual)

OUTLOOK: U.S. men have won six golds since the sport returned at the '72 Olympics, including winning individual and team gold at Atlanta. South Korea's women have won seven golds since '72, including individual and team gold at the past three Olympics. Karen Scavott from Enfield, Conn., is 18 and the best U.S. hope for a medal.

WHERE: Ross Pavilion, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Five (men's singles and doubles, women's singles and doubles, mixed doubles.

OUTLOOK: Badminton became a full competition sport in '92. Asian countries won 14 of the 15 medals four years ago. China and Indonesia have captured 70% of all championship events since '34.

WHERE: Baseball Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park; Baseball Centre, Blacktown Olympic Centre.

OUTLOOK: Pros are eligible for the first time, which could affect powerhouse Cuba. The Cubans won the first two Olympic gold medals in '92 and '96 and have taken every world championship since '74. Watch for former major leaguer Dave Nilsson, who will catch for Australia. Ex-Mets prospect Mike Kinkade in on the U.S. team.

WHERE: The Dome and SuperDome, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: The U.S. easily won the men's competition the past two Olympics with NBA players and should do the same in Sydney. The Americans have captured the gold medal in every Olympics they have competed except for '72 and '88 when the Soviet Union won. Croatia, Lithuania and Yugoslavia all feature NBA players, too. In '96, the U.S. women spent eight months prepping for the Games and steamrolled to the gold. Chamique Holdsclaw from Christ The King is on the women's team.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: Making its second Olympics appearance after debuting in '96. Unlike indoor volleyball, points are only scored by serving team. Brazil has provided the early standard in the men's and women's divisions. The U.S. and Australia are also top women's contenders, and Argentina and Switzerland join Brazil atop the men's field. Only one of the four gold medalists from Atlanta, Brazil's Sandra Pires, is expected to compete in Sydney. Karch Kiraly, the only volleyball player to win three Olympic gold medals - two indoors for the U.S. in '84 and '88, along with the first men's beach gold medal - was poised with new partner Adam Johnson to qualify. But Kiraly, 39, injured his right shoulder at the final qualifying event in Belgium and is expected to miss the Games.

WHERE: Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour.

OUTLOOK: Cuban heavyweight Felix Savon, a four-time world champion, is trying to become the third three-time Olympic champion. U.S. boxers have not won more than one gold medal since they got three in '88 in Seoul. The U.S. and Cuba are the only countries that will have full 12-boxer teams. For the first time, boxers had to qualify for the Games in a series of tournaments in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Cuba, as the world's top-ranked team, didn't have to qualify.

WHERE: Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith Lakes. Slalom events to be held at the Centre's Penrith Whitewater Stadium.

WHEN: Slalom, Sept. 16-20; Sprint, Sept. 26-Oct. 1.

GOLD MEDALS: 16 (three men's, one women's slalom, nine men's, three women's sprint).

OUTLOOK: Germany's Birgit Fischer, the top women's medal-winner in kayak sprint in Olympic history, is back after winning a gold and silver in Atlanta. Norway's Knut Holmann is a favorite in both men's K1 distances. He, too, won a gold and silver in '96. The U.S. qualified in only two men's sprint races (500m K2 and 1,000m K4) and the women's 500m K1.

WHERE: Fairfield City Farm, Fairfield (Mountain bike); Road Cycling Course, Centennial Parklands; Dunc Gray Velodrome, Bankstown (Track).

WHEN: Sept. 16-21; 23-24; 26-27; 30.

EVENTS: Road cycling, track cycling, mountain bike.

GOLD MEDALS: 14 (two men's, two women's road, five men's, three women's track; men's and women's mountain).

OUTLOOK: In mountain, there will be 50 riders in the men's, 30 in the women's. Men race 40 to 50 kilometers, women 30 to 40. Exact distances are decided the night before the race, determined by weather conditions. In road, men race 239km, women 120. In time trials, men race 46.8km, women 31.2. In track, France tops the field, challenged by the U.S., Germany and Australia. Pro riders will compete. Deirdre Murphy, who lives on Madison Ave., is cycling for Ireland.

WHERE: Sydney International Aquatic Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.

EVENTS: Springboard, platform, synchronized springboard, synchronized platform

GOLD MEDALS: Eight (two men's, two women's).

OUTLOOK: Synchronized diving makes its Olympics debut. Eight pairs of divers will compete in each synchronized event. The U.S. has dominated Olympic diving, winning 125 of the 225 medals, including 46 of 75 gold medals. Chinese divers won three of the four gold medals in '96.

WHERE: Sydney International Equestrian Centre, Horsley Park.

EVENTS: Three-day event, dressage, show jumping.

GOLD MEDALS: Six (individual and team).

OUTLOOK: Although the event was a part of the '56 Melbourne Games, equestrian took place in Stockholm, Sweden, as the horses did not meet quarantine laws. Germany won team and individual dressage events at the past four Olympics. European and U.S. riders have dominated the three-day event. Nona Garson from Westfield, N.J., is in the jumping, while Robert Dover from Flemington, N.J. and Sue Blinks from Mt. Kisko, N.Y. are in dressage.

WHERE: Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour.

GOLD MEDALS: 10 (three men's individual and team, two women's individual and team).

OUTLOOK: Of all the sports in the Games, the one that warrants the most local interest is fencing. Of the nine male and female fencers the U.S. is sending to Sydney, eight are from New York State, and six are from the city, including Cliff Bayer, a 1996 Olympian, four-time national champion and winner of the first two World Cup gold medals ever won by a U.S. men's foil fencer. Bayer is a serious medal contender, as is Iris Zimmerman, 19, the bronze medalist in the world championships last year. Other city folks in Sydney are Peter Westbrook, who won a bronze medal in the men's saber in 1984; Erinn and Keeth Smart, a sister/brother tandem from Brooklyn, competing in women's foil and men's saber, respectively; Tamir Bloom, an epee specialist and fourth-year med student at Mount Sinai School of Medicine; Akhi Spencer, a men's saber fencer, from Manhattan; and Arlene Stevens, of Fairport and Queens, a two-time national champion and St. John's student who competes in women's epee. In a sport long dominated by European nations, the U.S. team, which is really the New York team, is hoping for a breakthrough in Sydney.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's team).

OUTLOOK: Australia, which earned an automatic entry as the host nation, won women's gold medals in '88 and '96. South Korea, Argentina, the Netherlands and Germany are expected to challenge in the 10-team competition. Australia is also a top contender in the 12-team men's field.

WHERE: Sydney SuperDome, Sydney Olympic Park.

WHEN: Sept. 16-26, 28-30, Oct. 1.

GOLD MEDALS: 18 (nine men's, seven women's artistic, two women's rhythmic).

OUTLOOK: Trampoline makes its Olympics debut. Three years after the Magnificent Seven won the United States' first women's Olympic all-around title, the Americans finished last in the medals round at the world championships. Two of the five competing members of the Atlanta medalists, Dominique Moceanu and Jaycie Phelps, were forced to withdraw from the trials because of injuries.

WHERE: Pavilion 2, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: The women's division, which started in '76, expands to 10 teams. There are 12 teams in the men's field, which began play in '72. Underdog Denmark won the '96 women's event over South Korea, the '88 and '92 champions. Australia received an automatic bid as the host nation.

WHERE: Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour.

GOLD MEDALS: 14 (seven men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: Men's bouts last five minutes, women's four. Germany and Belgium top the men's field. Cuba tops women's. Several locals will compete, led by Celita Schutz from Hillsdale, N.J. and Sandra Bacher from L.I.

WHERE: Pavilion 2 (shooting, fencing), Aquatic Centre (swimming), Baseball Stadium (show jumping, running).

GOLD MEDALS: 2 (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: Women will take part for the first time. This is the second Olympics in which the event will be held in one day, compared to four to six days. Sweden dominated the event that incorporates shooting, fencing, swimming, showjumping and a 3,000 meter run, until the '60s when Hungary and Russia began to dominate. Aleksandr Parygin of Kazakstan won the gold in Atlanta.

WHERE: Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith Lakes.

GOLD MEDALS: 14 (eight men's and six women's).

EVENTS: single, double, quadruple sculls, lightweight double scull, the eight and coxless pair, coxless four (men only) and lightweight coxless four (men only).

OUTLOOK: While a record 51 countries qualified for Sydney, the U.S. is the only one to send a full contingent of 14 boats and 48 athletes. Australia and Germany each are sending 10 boats. U.S. hopes for gold are highest in the men's eight, an event Americans dominated from 1900-56 but haven't won since '64. U.S. crews have won the past three world championships. The Sydney crew will include four men who were on all three boats and four more who were on the past two. The only newcomer is Dave Simon, a sophomore at Brown. Britain's Steve Redgrave, who won gold at the past four Olympics, is switching from coxless pairs to the coxless four, an event won in '92 and '96 by the crew known as Australia's Oarsome Foursome.

WHERE: Sailing Marina, Rushcutters Bay with

OUTLOOK: Sailing will have the most spectacular setting of any sport, with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge providing backdrops on Sydney Harbour. The 49er, a high-performance skiff that was designed in Australia, makes its Olympics debut. U.S. sailors attempt to make up for their performance in Savannah, Ga., in '96, when they won only two bronze medals. The American with the strongest chance for gold is 44-year-old Mark Reynolds of San Diego, who enters his fourth Olympics after winning the Star class world championship. He won gold in Barcelona in '92 and the silver in Seoul in '88 but is coming off a disappointing eighth in '96. Nine gold medalists return, including Soling skipper Jochen Schumann, who's won three gold medals dating to '76, and Brazil's Torben Grael, the tactician for Italy in the recent America's Cup. Rod Davis, who will represent New Zealand, has won medals for the U.S. and New Zealand.

WHERE: Sydney International Shooting Centre, Cecil Park.

EVENTS: Men (air pistol, air rifle, free pistol, rifle 3 positions, rifle prone, rapid fire pistol, running target, skeet, trap and double trap) and women (air pistol, air rifle, sport pistol, rifle 3 positions, skeet, trap and double trap).

GOLD MEDALS: 16 (nine men's and seven women's).

OUTLOOK: Germany's Ralf Schumann won gold in '92 and '96 and will attempt to win an unprecedented third straight gold medal in the men's 25-meter rapid-fire pistol event. China's Shan Zhan, who won the gold in '88 in the open skeet event, was unable to defend her title in '96 as the skeet was an event for men only. She will try to win the women's event at Sydney.

WHERE: Various locations. Men's final at Olympic Stadium; women's final at Sydney Football Stadium.

WHEN: Sept. 13-14, 16-17, 19-20, 23-24, 26, 28-30.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: The men's field consists of 16 teams. There are eight women's teams. While pros are allowed in the men's tournament, rules restrict teams to players under 23, except for three exemptions. Nigeria, the '96 champion, along with Brazil and Argentina head the men's field. The U.S., which won the first women's gold in Atlanta, is favored. The women have three locals, Kristine Lilly of Wilton, Conn., Sara Whalen of Greenlawn and Christie Pearce of Point Pleasant, N.J. For the men, MetroStars goalie Tim Howard is from Jersey.

OUTLOOK: Softball, which debuted in '96, returns with an eight-team field. The U.S., which won the inaugural gold, is a heavy favorite. Lisa Fernandez, who lost a perfect game to Australia in the 10th inning in '96, is back. Danielle Henderson from Commack, L.I., is an up-and-coming pitcher.

WHERE: Sydney International Aquatic Centre.

GOLD MEDALS: 32 (16 men's and 16 women's).

OUTLOOK: Bodysuits have revolutionized the sport, with world records falling every week. Christina Teuscher from Columbia and Tom Wilkens from Middletown, N.J. are the locals.

WHERE: Sydney International Aquatic Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (women's duet and team).

OUTLOOK: U.S. and Canada won every gold and silver medal in the first four Olympic competitions, but their leading swimmers retired after '96. Russia and Japan emerged as the new leaders at the world championships two years ago.

WHERE: State Sports Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Four (men's singles and doubles and women's singles and doubles).

OUTLOOK: Matches are best-of-five games. The top 16 singles seeds are in the main draw as another 48 players compete in a qualification round. Of that group, 16 more advance to make up the 32-player field. China has dominated the past three Olympics, as the women won all six gold medals and the men captured four. Locally, Cheng Ying Hua of Manhattan and David Zhuang of North Brunswick, N.J. will compete.

WHERE: State Sports Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Eight (four men's and four women's).

OUTLOOK: A sport that has existed for 2,000 years debuts as a medal event at Sydney after being a demonstration in '92 and '96. Korea won the men's and women's titles at last year's world championships.

WHERE: Tennis Centre, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Four (men's singles and doubles and women's singles and doubles).

OUTLOOK: Olympic participation by top tennis stars tends to be spotty. Missing from Sydney will be Pete Sampras, Mary Pierce, Martina Hingis and Nathalie Tauziat. However, with a strong American team, this year's tennis could be the best since the sport returned to full-medal status in '88. Venus Williams has a chance at two gold medals because she's playing doubles with sister Serena and singles. Lindsay Davenport will try to duplicate her gold-medal performance from Atlanta.

EVENTS: Track includes sprints (100 meters, 200, 400), middle-distance running (800 and 1500) and long-distance running (5000 and 10,000), hurdling (100 and 400 for women, 110 and 400 for men), relays (400 and 1,600) and the men's 3,000 steeplechase. Field, for men and women, includes the long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault, shot put, discus, javelin and hammer throw. The women's pole vault and hammer throw debut. Road consists of the men's and women's marathons, the men's 20km and 50km race walks and the women's 10km race walk. Men compete in the decathlon and women in the heptathlon.

GOLD MEDALS: 46 (24 men's and 22 women's).

OUTLOOK: Marion Jones of the U.S. will attempt to win an unprecedented five gold medals. Michael Johnson, who won the 200 and 400 at Atlanta, goes for an unprecedented second 400-meter title. Gabriela Szabo of Romania will try for an unprecedented women's 1,500-5,000 double. Cuba's Javier Sotomayor makes a controversial return after testing positive for cocaine and will attempt to regain the Olympic high jump title he won in '92. Dawn Ellerbe from Central Islip, L.I., goes for the first-ever gold medal in the women's hammer throw.

WHERE: Farm Cove, Royal Botanic Garden,

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: Triathlon makes its debut as a medal event. Continuous event consists of a 1.5-kilometer swim, followed by a bike ride of 40 kilometers and a 10-kilometer run. Australia is the top nation in the men's and women's competitions.

WHERE: Sydney Entertainment Centre; Buring Pavilion, Sydney Olympic Park.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: Rule changes abound for volleyball, a 104-year-old sport. For the first time the defense can score. Previously, teams could only score on their own serve. The first four sets are now played to 25 points, but the final set goes to the traditional 15. Libero is the new name in the game. Libero is a specialist role designed to produce longer rallies and spectacular defensive play. The player will wear a different color from the rest of the team and can substitute anywhere in the backcourt but cannot serve, spike or rotate into the front zone. Two-time defending Olympics champion Cuba is again the team to beat in the women's field. Cuba, along with Italy and the Netherlands, should contend for men's gold.

WHERE: Ryde Aquatic Leisure Centre, Sydney International Aquatic Centre.

GOLD MEDALS: Two (men's and women's).

OUTLOOK: John Vargas, coach of the U.S. men's Olympic water polo team, has what many consider the most physically talented group the U.S. has ever put together. It's a good thing, because this may be the most loaded field of water polo teams in the annals of the Summer Games. Hungary, the defending world champion, is the favorites but Italy, Spain, Croatia and Yugoslavia are considered formidable teams. The centerpiece of the U.S. attack is 31-year-old Chris Humbert, a two-time Olympian and national team mainstay for nearly a decade. Surrounding Humbert are Wolf Wigo, born and bred in Manhattan, a driver who is one of the fastest guys in the pool, and Tony Azevedo, an 18-year-old who graduated from high school in June. Women's water polo is making its Olympic debut, and if the U.S. men are in the running for a medal, the women's team may be even better, considering that they defeated the entire Olympic field in recent tournaments. Playing a strong counter-attacking style, the women are led by top scorer Coralie Simmons, a threat from almost everywhere, and Ericka Lorenze, who at 19 is on her way to becoming one of the elite outside shooters in the sport. Australia and Holland, the reigning world champion, are generally regarded as the world's top teams, but the U.S. side figures to be right there.

WHERE: Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour.

GOLD MEDALS: 15 (eight men's and seven women's).

OUTLOOK: The women make their Olympics debut. Turkey's Naim Suleymanoglu, known as Pocket Hercules, retired after winning his third gold in '96, only to announce that at 38 years old he would try for an unprecedented fourth gold medal.

WHERE: Sydney Exhibition Centre, Darling Harbour.

GOLD MEDALS: 16 (eight freestyle and eight Greco-Roman).

OUTLOOK: The competition format has changed from double-elimination to pools, and the IOC ordered wrestling to cut down its weights from 10 to eight. The U.S. has 99 Olympic medals in wrestling, 44 gold, almost twice as many as any other country. Former Greco-Roman gold medalist Jeff Blatnick predicts as many as seven U.S. medals in freestyle.

Summary: ARCHERY WHERE: Sydney International Archery Park, Sydney Olympic Park. WHEN: Sept. 16-22. GOLD MEDALS: Four (men's team and individual and women's team and individual) OUTLOOK: U.S. men have won six golds since the sport returned at the '72 Olympics, including winning individual and team gold at Atlanta. South Korea's women have won seven golds since '72, including individual and team gold at the past three Olympics. Karen Scavott from Enfield, Conn., is 18 and


Allston used to be summarily dismissed as a student slum, a great place to be if you were a broke college kid or a cockroach.

The students remain, but much has changed, and it’s mostly for the better. The diversity of the people reflects the patchwork quality of Allston Village. There is an abundance of cuisine from all over the world. Beautiful murals, mixed in with second-hand shops, historic churches, trendy new cafes, Brazilian human rights centers, and Russian caviar and candy.

Consider it an Olympic parade on shuffle.

On Harvard Ave. the story changes every couple of seconds. That’s where Allston resident Rob Balkin likes to people watch.

“You can either travel the world to see the world, or you can stay in Allston and the world comes to you.’’

Summary: As these street scenes attest, Allston Village is one of Boston’s most diverse neighborhoods, with restaurants, churches, businesses, and cultural landmarks as widely varied as the people who live there.


Jan 6th 2012, 19:09 by D.G. | JOHANNESBURG

THE African National Congress (ANC), the continent’s oldest liberation movement, kicks off the new year with celebrations on January 8th to mark the centenary of its foundation in Bloemfontein, now also known by its African name of Mangaung. Some 100,000 members of South Africa’s ruling party are expected to attend along with 46 foreign heads of state and other dignitaries. Not a room is to be had within a 100km radius of the Free State capital.

Self-congratulatory celebrations are due to continue throughout the year leading up to the ANC’s national conference, held once every five years, to elect new leaders. The last time such a conference was held, in Polokwane in 2007, then-president Thabo Mbeki was unceremoniously ousted by Jacob Zuma (pictured, left) as the party’s leader before being “recalled” as the country’s president in September 2008, six months before his mandate was due to expire. It is now Mr Zuma’s turn to fight for his own political survival. Political infighting and manoeuvring between rival factions will continue all year.

In neighbouring Zimbabwe 87-year-old President Robert Mugabe (pictured, right), newly re-endorsed as his Zanu-PF party’s presidential candidate, continues to press for fresh elections this year despite the continuing lawlessness, violence and widespread intimidation of political opponents, human-rights activists and journalists. But a new constitution, still in the process of being drafted, has to be approved before any new poll can be held, first in a referendum and then by parliament. So elections are unlikely to be held before early 2013, by which time Mr Mugabe’s deteriorating health may prevent him from standing again.

In oil-rich Angola President José Edouardo Dos Santos has called for presidential elections in the third quarter of this year—the first since he came to power 33 years ago. But voters are sceptical. Under the country’s new constitution, elections do not have to be held until 2013. The 69-year-old Mr Dos Santos, Africa’s longest-serving head of state following the demise of Libya’s Muammar Qaddafi in October, has not yet said whether he himself will stand. Over the past six months, youths have been taking to the streets to protest against his authoritarian rule and demand he step down. But so far these have been small and failed to spread following a severe police repression.

The impoverished Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, where André Rajoelina has been in power since a military coup three years ago, is also due to hold elections this year. Under the terms of an electoral “roadmap”, mediated by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a 15-member regional club, and signed by all but one of the main parties last September, all exiled leaders are supposed to be allowed to return “unconditionally” to the island. But Marc Ravalomanana, the former president ousted by Mr Rajoelina and now living in exile in South Africa, is being threatened with arrest as soon as he resets foot on Madagascan soil. He was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment two years ago for his part in the massacre of unarmed protesters in 2009. Mr Rajoelina has said he wants elections to be held by May. Only then can Madagascar hope to see the resumption of the Western foreign aid it so desperately needs. But SADC may insist on Mr Ravalomanana’s safe return first.

In Zambia, the copper-rich country’s controversial new president, Michel Sata, is likely to come under increased scrutiny following the completion of his first 90 days in office. During his campaign, he pledged to carry out all his main election promises during that period. Although he has started dealing with rampant corruption in the public sector and has passed several pro-poor measures, including cutting taxes for low earners, he has unsettled investors by doubling mineral royalties, sacking the governor of the central bank, and blocking a previously agreed sale of a state-owned bank. But the one-time fierce critic of Chinese employers is now going out of his way to woo Zambia’s biggest foreign investors—with some success.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Malawi teeters on the edge of economic and political collapse. Last year’s mass protests against President Bingu wa Mutharika’s repressive rule may have fizzled out, but the economic situation continues to deteriorate as drought threatens crops, medicines and fuel run out for want of foreign currency, and Western donors, angry over the absence of any meaningful reform, refuse to pay their normal hundreds of millions of dollars in budgetary aid. For the moment, Mr Mutharika remains defiant, but the pressures are building up.

Little Swaziland, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, is also in deep trouble. The government has run out of cash, and no one seems willing to lend it any without radical economic and democratic reforms, which King Mswati III refuses even to contemplate. In August South Africa, in which the pint-sized kingdom is embedded, offered it a 2.4 billion rand loan, but with strict conditions attached, which the king appears to have rejected. The government may run out of money to pay its civil servants, leading to the spread of last year’s mass protests.

Botswana, for long the region’s golden boy on account of its sound governance, political stability and healthy economy, also saw some unwonted unrest last year. Public-sector workers staged their first-ever nationwide strike in protest over the government’s pay-restraint policies. But the government refused to budge and the two-month dispute, backed by the main opposition parties, eventually fizzled out, allowing President Ian Khama (pictured, centre) to emerge with his hand strengthened. His main challenge now is to wean the economy off its dependency on its once rich but now fast depleting diamond resources—a task he has already begun.

Deemed the poorest country on the planet 20 years ago, Mozambique continues to steam ahead, with economic growth averaging around 8% over the past 15 years—one of the fastest rates in the world. Despite continuing poor infrastructure and rampant corruption, foreign investment is pouring in, thanks to the country’s sound macro-economic policies, political stability and rich mineral resources. In Mozambique’s north-west, the first shipments have begun to leave what is believed to be the world’s biggest unexploited coal fields, and now a massive gas field has been discovered offshore that is being hailed as one of the most significant finds of natural gas in the world in the past decade. With growth of over 7% predicted this year, the future looks bright. But for the moment the vast majority of Mozambicans continue to struggle to survive.


The Labor Department said Friday that January unemployment fell to 8.3 percent as employers added 243,000 jobs, a sign that the economy is at long last settling into a stronger recovery.

Economists had expected the unemployment rate to tick up slightly to 8.6 percent and jobs would rise by 155,000. The fifth straight monthly decline for unemployment caused a surge in stocks, with the Nasdaq index at an 11-year high and the Dow Jones Industrial Average approaching its highest level since May 2008.

Stephen Bronars, chief economist with Welch Consulting, said the "very strong" report gives reason for optimism.

The Dow passed 12,869 late morning, shy of the 12,876 level reached in May 2008.

"This is the best jobs report we have had in years because there were solid gains in many areas," he said. "We need job growth this strong over a sustained period, 24 months, to get employment as a fraction of population close to pre-recession levels."

The primary weakness is that employment growth is still lagging for workers with a high school diploma and those who didn't finish high school, according to Bronars. He is also concerned by the 5.5 million long-term unemployed.

"That number has come down substantially, but it is still quite high by historical standards," he said.

The economy has become a major issue in the presidential election set for November. The Republican candidates have criticized the Obama administration for doing too little to spur job growth.

"We welcome the fact that jobs were created and unemployment declined," GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney said in a statement this morning. "Unfortunately, these numbers cannot hide the fact that President Obama's policies have prevented a true economic recovery. We can do better."

"Last week, we learned that the economy grew only 1.7 percent in 2011, the slowest growth in a non-recession year since the end of World War II. As a result, the percentage of Americans in the job market continues to decline and is now at a level not seen since the early 1980s. Nearly 24 million Americans remain unemployed, underemployed, or have just stopped looking for work. Long-term unemployment remains at record levels."

House Speaker John Boehner suggested that despite the positive jobs data, the president's economic agenda has failed and the country would be better off if the GOP's policies are implemented.

As usual, business and professional services and health care were strong, but this month the job gains were strong across many sectors. However, January is usually a difficult month to evaluate because of strong seasonal effects, Bronars said.

"Obviously, any time we're adding jobs, that's a good thing," Bronars said. "The more jobs gained above 150,000 per month, the more we have an indication the economy is picking up steam. We need some acceleration in growth, rather than moving along at the same rate we have been."

In the days leading up to the release of the new Labor Department figures Friday, ADP, the payroll processing company, released its monthly employment figure, showing an increase of 170,000 private sector jobs in January.

"Over the last three months, the monthly gains in employment shown in The ADP National Employment Report have averaged 223,000, compared to 163,000 per month over all of 2011," said Carlos Rodriguez, president and CEO of ADP in a statement. "This is a positive development that we hope will continue throughout the course of 2012."

That average increase in jobs, however, may be inflated due to a good holiday season at the end of 2011. The December jobs report, released last month, saw the unemployment rate decline to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009, with a better-than-expected increase of 200,000 new jobs.

Summary: The Bureau of Labor and Statistics reports 243,000 jobs were added in January.


Rock promoter Don Kirshner, whom Time magazine once dubbed the "Man With the Golden Ear," died Monday in a Florida hospital, a close friend and business associate said. He was 76.

Promoter Jack Wishna told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Kirshner was in a hospital in Boca Raton being treated for an infection.

"Donny Kirshner would take a kid off the street, bring him up to his office in the Brill Building and turn him into Neil Diamond, Carol King, James Taylor, on and on," Wishna said. "I haven't spoken to anyone in the music business that Donny hasn't either discovered, promoted, or touched in some way.

"I've never seen anybody like this in my life," he said.

Kirshner managed The Monkees in the 1960s and also created the animated series The Archies.

He was behind "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" in 1972, and gave national exposure to musicians including Billy Joel and The Police. The show also boosted careers of comics including Billy Crystal, Arsenio Hall and David Letterman.

The show also featured artists Kirshner helped launch including Prince, The Eagles, Lionel Richie and Ozzy Osborne.

Wishna said Kirshner was a mentor who knew the art of discovering talent and cared about the artists he worked with.

"He was a father to these people even though some of them were three or four years younger than him," Wishna said.

Wishna said Kirshner was a pioneer who developed a system for singer-songrwriters to share in the profits of selling music.

He also ran three labels, Dimension Records, Colgems Records and Kirshner Records.

Before he died, Kirshner was chief creative officer of Rockrena, a company launching this year to find and promote talent online.

Summary: Rock Promoter Don Kirshner Dies at Age 76


Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar

A day of joyful anticipation has turned to anguish for Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.

At a routine check-up Thursday to find out the sex of

, their doctor was unable to find a heartbeat and told the couple they had miscarried in the second trimester.

"After the appointment, we came back home and told the children," says Michelle, 45.

"We had just been talking about baby names last night and they were getting excited about naming a boy or a girl. It has been a real sad disappointment."

She says the family will select a name after they know if the baby was a boy or girl, and then plan to have a funeral service.

"I feel like my heart broke telling my children," says Michelle. "They have all been so excited about this baby and looking forward to April coming around and having a new little one in our arms. That was the most difficult. The Lord is the giver of life and he can choose when that life is ready to go on and be with Him."

with their youngest daughter, Josie, who was born in December 2009.

This was their second miscarriage; Michelle lost her baby during her second pregnancy. She was taking oral birth control at the time and cites this as one reason the couple together decided to leave the number of children they have "up to God."

Summary: "I feel like my heart broke telling my children," the reality TV mom of 19 tells PEOPLE


NEW YORK — The industrial sector tumbled Tuesday on further signs that China's growth is slowing, potentially knocking a leg out from under companies that relied on business in Asia during the worst of the recession.Australian mining company BHP Billiton Ltd. said Tuesday it expects China's demand for iron ore to cool in coming years, setting off a broad sell-off of stocks ranging from coal companies to heavy industrial operators.Global iron ore consumption rose 6.1 percent a year between 2000 and 2010. But from 2010 until 2020 the company expects consumption to grow by just 3.5 percent as demand in China flattens, BHP said in a presentation to investors.China's sizzling economy over the last decade has tightened supplies of everything from soybeans and crude, to iron ore and construction machinery.The country's leaders in recent months have tried to prevent their economy from overheating, and even on Tuesday there were more clues that they had done just that. Home prices dropped in 45 Chinese cities in February, with the government making an orchestrated attempt to damp down rampant property speculation.Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said Tuesday that its retail machine sales in the Asia/Pacific region slowed between December and February. Year-over-year growth slowed from 31 percent in December to 20 percent in February, the company said.Shares of Caterpillar fell 2 percent in morning trading.William Blair & Company analyst Lawrence De Maria said that negative news out of China is likely to restrain Caterpillar's stock price in the near term."We now view 2012 as a new trough for the Chinese market and advise investors to look toward 2013 growth off a lower base in the region," De Maria said in a note to clients Tuesday.Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar's shares fell $2.74, or 2.4 percent, to $110.99 in midday trading. BHP Billiton shares dropped $2.66, or 3.5 percent, to $72.85.Coal companies, which are relying increasingly on China with U.S. demand falling were hit as well. Peabody Energy Corp. was the biggest decliner on the Standard & Poor's 500 index, giving up more than 5 percent to trade at $41.69. That company hit a 52-week low just last week.Alpha Natural Resources Inc. was not far behind as the second biggest percentage decliner on the S&P.Elsewhere among industrial companies:— Joy Global Inc. dropped $3.36, or 4 percent, to $76.— Alcoa Inc. fell 20 cents, or 2 percent, to $10.04— Ingersoll-Rand PLC lost 51 cents, or 1 percent, to $40.37.— Deere & Co. fell 61 cents, or almost 1 percent, to $82.55.— Eaton Corp. lost 94 cents, or nearly 2 percent, to $49.92.

Summary: Sector Snap: Industrial companies fall


Marriott’s quarterly profit rose to $104 million, or 30 cents a share, from $101 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier. The company will invest $600 million to $800 million in its properties in 2012.

Marriott International Inc., the largest publicly traded US hotel chain, posted higher profit and raised its forecasts. Marriott, whose brands include Ritz-Carlton, probably will earn $1.58 to $1.69 a share this year, it said. Higher sales and rates in the group travel segment are helping Marriott, said Patrick Scholes, at FBR Capital Markets. And higher sales at the Ritz-Carlton hotels let it raise rates.

Summary: Marriott International Inc., the largest publicly traded U.S. hotel chain, surged after reporting a higher profit and raising its forecasts for 2012 amid climbing business-group demand. Marriott, whose brands include Ritz-Carlton, probably will have earnings of $1.58 to $1.69 a share this year, the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said yesterday in a statement. That’s higher than its $1.52-to-$1.64 forecast from February


Houston Texans' Matt Schaub (8) and Chris Myers (55) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game against the San Francisco 49ers Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans' Matt Schaub (8) and Chris Myers (55) in the second...

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh argues a call during the second quarter of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh argues a call during...

Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) is hit by San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois (95) as he releases the ball for an incomplete pass during the second quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) is hit by San Francisco...

Houston Texans wide receiver Lestar Jean (18) is hit by San Francisco 49ers defensive back Tramaine Brock (26) as he falls into the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown reception during the second quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

Houston Texans wide receiver Lestar Jean (18) is hit by San...

Lestar Jean (18) and San Francisco 49ers' Tramaine Brock (26) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Lestar Jean (18) and San Francisco 49ers' Tramaine Brock (26) in...

San Francisco 49ers' Tramaine Brock (26) and Houston Texans' Arian Foster (23) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Tramaine Brock (26) and Houston Texans' Arian...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: LaMichael James #23 of the San Francisco 49ers is wrapped up by Brandon Harris #26 and Eddie Pleasant #35 of the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. Houston defeats San Francisco 20-9. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: LaMichael James #23 of the San Francisco...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Anthony Dixon #24 of the San Francisco 49ers hits an opening in the line against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. Houston defeats San Francisco 20-9. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Anthony Dixon #24 of the San Francisco 49ers...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Trindon Holliday #16 of the Houston Texans returns a punt for 80 yards in the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. Houston defeats San Francisco 20-9. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Trindon Holliday #16 of the Houston Texans...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Case Keenum #7 of the Houston Texans rolls out in the fourth quarter against the San Francisco 49ers at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. Houston defeats San Francisco 20-9. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Case Keenum #7 of the Houston Texans rolls...

Houston Texans' Alan Ball (36) grabs San Francisco 49ers' LaMichael James (23) in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans' Alan Ball (36) grabs San Francisco 49ers' LaMichael...

LaMichael James leaves in the fourth quarter. Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

LaMichael James leaves in the fourth quarter.

San Francisco 49ers kicker David Akers (2) celebrates a field goal against the Houston Texans in the third quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers kicker David Akers (2) celebrates a field goal...

San Francisco 49ers' Chris Culliver, left, hangs onto the shirttail of Houston Texans' Arian Foster (23) in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Chris Culliver, left, hangs onto the shirttail...

San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon (24) in the fourth quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon (24) in the fourth...

Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak talks with Donnie Jones (5) in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game against the San Francisco 49ers Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel) Photo: Dave Einsel, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans coach Gary Kubiak talks with Donnie Jones (5) in...

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith (11) before an NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith (11) before an NFL...

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh in the fourth quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh in the fourth quarter...

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh argues a call with Field Judge Lance Easley (26) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game against the Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh argues a call with...

San Francisco 49ers running back Kendall Hunter (32) is tackled by Houston Texans defensive end Jared Crick (93) and linebacker Brian Cushing (56) during the first half of an NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston, Texas. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Jose Yau) Photo: Jose Yau, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers running back Kendall Hunter (32) is tackled by...

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith (11) before an NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith (11) before an NFL...

San Francisco 49ers' Michael Crabtree (15) reaches for a pass as he's grabbed by Houston Texans' Brice McCain (21) in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Michael Crabtree (15) reaches for a pass as...

Umpire Marc Harrod (46) points to the scoreboard in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game between the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Umpire Marc Harrod (46) points to the scoreboard in the first...

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) hands off to Brandon Jacobs in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game against the Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) hands off to Brandon Jacobs...

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) in the first quarter an NFL...

Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates (13) in the third quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates (13) in the third quarter an...

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss (84) before an NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss (84) before an NFL...

San Francisco 49ers running back LaMichael James (23) is carted off the filed after being injured against the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers running back LaMichael James (23) is carted off...

San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh yells from the sidelines in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game against the Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh yells from the sidelines in...

San Francisco 49ers running back Kendall Hunter (32) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers running back Kendall Hunter (32) in the second...

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) catches a pass for a first down over San Francisco 49ers free safety Trenton Robinson (30) and Tramaine Brock (26) during the first half of an NFL football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston, Texas. (AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Jose Yau) Photo: Jose Yau, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) catches a pass for...

San Francisco 49ers running back LaMichael James (23) lies on the ground after being injured against the Houston Texans in the fourth quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers running back LaMichael James (23) lies on the...

San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon (24) is tackled in the fourth quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon (24) is tackled in...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Arian Foster #23 of the Houston Texans looks for room to run against the San Francisco 49ers at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Arian Foster #23 of the Houston Texans looks...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Ted Ginn #19 of the San Francisco 49ers is tackled by Sherrick McManis #22 of the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Ted Ginn #19 of the San Francisco 49ers is...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Andre Johnson #80 of the Houston Texans signals first down after making a reception against the San Francisco 49ers at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Andre Johnson #80 of the Houston Texans...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Chris Owusu #81 of the San Francisco 49ers can't control the ball as Brandon Harris #26 of the Houston Texans defends on the play at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. Houston defeats San Francisco 20-9. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Chris Owusu #81 of the San Francisco 49ers...

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Josh Johnson #1 of the San Francisco 49ers drops back looking for a receiver against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium on August 18, 2012 in Houston, Texas. Houston defeats San Francisco 20-9. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) Photo: Bob Levey, Getty Images / SF

HOUSTON - AUGUST 18: Josh Johnson #1 of the San Francisco 49ers...

Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates (13) throws a pass over San Francisco 49ers nose tackle Ian Williams (93) during the third quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates (13) throws a pass over San...

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss (84) makes a catch against Houston Texans cornerback Kareem Jackson (25) during the second quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss (84) makes a catch...

Houston Texans cornerback Brandon Harris (26) breaks up a pass intended for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Chris Owusu (81) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

Houston Texans cornerback Brandon Harris (26) breaks up a pass...

San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon (24) is caught from behind by Houston Texans defensive end Rennie Moore (68) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

San Francisco 49ers running back Anthony Dixon (24) is caught from...

Houston Texans linebacker Jesse Nading (57) and cornerback Brandon Harris (26) trips up San Francisco 49ers quarterback Josh Johnson (1) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

Houston Texans linebacker Jesse Nading (57) and cornerback Brandon...

Houston Texans linebacker Tim Dobbins (52) stops San Francisco 49ers running back Rock Cartwright (28) during the third quarter of an NFL football game at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle ) Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle / SF

Houston Texans linebacker Tim Dobbins (52) stops San Francisco...

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game against the Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel) Photo: Dave Einsel, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) in the second quarter an NFL...

Houston Texans wide receiver Lestar Jean (18) catches a pass as San Francisco 49ers defensive back Tramaine Brock (26) tackles him in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans wide receiver Lestar Jean (18) catches a pass as San...

Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates (13) in the third quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates (13) in the third quarter an...

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (23) eludes San Francisco 49ers' Tramaine Brock (26) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (23) eludes San Francisco...

San Francisco 49ers defensive back Chris Culliver (29) grabs the jersey of Houston Texans running back Arian Foster (23) in the first quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers defensive back Chris Culliver (29) grabs the...

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) and Houston Texans' Connor Barwin (98) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Alex Smith (11) and Houston Texans' Connor...

Houston Texans' Trindon Holliday returns a punt in the fourth quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. The Texans beat the 49ers 20-9. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel) Photo: Dave Einsel, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans' Trindon Holliday returns a punt in the fourth...

San Francisco 49ers' Kendall Hunter (32) in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game against the Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

San Francisco 49ers' Kendall Hunter (32) in the second quarter an...

Houston Texans' Brandon Harris (26) upends San Francisco 49ers quarterback Josh Johnson (1) in the fourth quarter an NFL preseason football game Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Houston Texans' Brandon Harris (26) upends San Francisco 49ers...

Side Judge Brad Hudspeth takes a measurement in the second quarter an NFL preseason football game between the San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans Saturday, Aug. 18, 2012, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Side Judge Brad Hudspeth takes a measurement in the second quarter...

Brandon Jacobs flies to the turf after being hit on a first-quarter carry. He was helped off the field with a knee injury but apparently tore no ligaments. Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Brandon Jacobs flies to the turf after being hit on a first-quarter...

Quarterback Matt Schaub (8) of the Houston Texans hands off to Arian Foster (23) against the San Francisco 49ers in the first half of their preseason game on Saturday, August 18, 2012, in Houston, Texas. (George Bridges/MCT) Photo: George Bridges, McClatchy-Tribune News Service / SF

Quarterback Matt Schaub (8) of the Houston Texans hands off to...

Quarterback Matt Schaub (8) of the Houston Texans hands off to Arian Foster (23) against the San Francisco 49ers in the first half of their preseason game on Saturday, August 18, 2012, in Houston, Texas. (George Bridges/MCT) Photo: George Bridges, McClatchy-Tribune News Service / SF

Quarterback Matt Schaub (8) of the Houston Texans hands off to...

Wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) of the Houston Texans goes high in front of defensive back Tramaine Brock (26) and Trenton Robinson (30) of the San Francisco 49ers for a reception in the first half of their preseason game on Saturday, August 18, 2012, in Houston, Texas. (George Bridges/MCT) Photo: George Bridges, McClatchy-Tribune News Service / SF

Wide receiver Andre Johnson (80) of the Houston Texans goes high in...

Jacobs, acquired to be a short-yardage running back, is braced by head coach Jim Harbaugh as he leaves the field. Photo: David J. Phillip, Associated Press / SF

Jacobs, acquired to be a short-yardage running back, is braced by...

Rock Cartwright is swarmed by Houston's Tim Dobbins (52) and a gang of defensive Texans. Photo: Brett Coomer, Hearst Newspapers / SF

Rock Cartwright is swarmed by Houston's Tim Dobbins (52) and a gang...

Summary: After the 49ers' 20-9 preseason loss to the Texans on Saturday night, head coach Jim Harbaugh did have some good news:  Jacobs was injured at the end of an 8-yard run in the first quarter when the helmet of Houston cornerback Kareem Jackson hit his left knee as his leg was planted.  The rookie second-round pick was already insisting he'd be practicing Monday after his ankle was inadvertently hit by 49ers tackle Derek Hall as James was blocking late in the fourth quarter.  Harbaugh felt good about quarterback Colin Kaepernick's hold on the backup spot behind Alex Smith after he entered in the second quarter and completed 4 of 8 passes for 19 yards.  Kaepernick, who had a 12-yard run on a read option, would have had a better stat line if wide receiver Randy Moss (three catches, 24 yards) had held onto a potential 25-yard reception at Houston's 5-yard line in the second quarter.  After entering with 5:24 left in the third quarter, the strong-armed QB flicked a beautiful 32-yard pass to first-round pick A.J. Jenkins down the left sideline.


Shoes today are more than footwear. They’re high-tech gear with specially engineered components. Within this $2 billion industry, many companies, like Vibram USA of Concord, are looking for a competitive edge by deploying shoe testers to assess new technologies.

Steve Ellis is one of them, trying out shoes and overseeing lab and wear-testing for Vibram, known for its Five Fingers and other minimalist running shoes. Ellis, 26, who has a physics degree and an MBA, creates tests that evaluate fit and comfort, durability, shock-absorption, and other characteristics.

Give me an example of a recent test that you conducted?

One of the Vibram designers recently made a sole for a mountain bike shoe. So we asked pro bikers to try them out at Highland Mountain Bike Park in New Hampshire. With mountain bike soles, it’s all about how well the design locks into the teeth of the pedals.

How do you structure your tests?

They are like other scientific tests. If our chemist creates a new compound targeted toward road running applications, we perform a battery of lab tests to understand the compound’s physical properties. Next, we bring natural environments and surfaces into the laboratory and calculate information. Then, lastly, shoes are distributed to our tester team, which will document things like weather, distance, location, and running surfaces.

You have a physics degree. How does that help you with the shoe testing?

Whether it’s friction, pressure testing, balance, or forces, these are all concepts from physics.

How do you find your testers?

Right now, the focus is mostly on athletes and sports professionals, such as a group of fly fishermen in Montana. The rivers have different moss, rocks, and ecosystems than here in New England, so we were interested in how our product worked there. Another recent group of testers were hunters who wear Vibram Five Fingers because they’re stealthy and give a better ground feel.

What have you done to address complaints that Five Fingers retain odor?

Working at the office, where all of us wear Five Fingers, there’s a fair share of people with the stinky foot problem, so we’re constantly working on it, even trying coconut shell shavings, which are supposed to stop microbes.

Have you had any unusual reactions when you wear your Five Finger shoes in public?

It’s always interesting going to the airport, taking my shoes off, and putting them in a scanner. They’re a good conversation opener, especially if people have never seen them before.

How many pairs of Vibram shoes do you have?

I have so many pairs they won’t fit in the closet. There are piles in the basement as well.

Summary: Shoes today are more than footwear. They’re high-tech gear with specially engineered components. Within this $2 billion industry, many companies, like Vibram USA of Concord, are looking for a competitive edge by deploying shoe testers to assess new technologies. Steve Ellis is one of them, trying out shoes and overseeing lab and wear-testing for Vibram, known for its “Five Fingers” and other minimalist running shoes. Ellis, 26, creates tests that evaluate fit and comfort, durability, shock-absorption, and other characteristics.


Lord Howell’s description of the north-east of England as ‘desolate’ has quite rightly caused a brouhaha. In a speech to the House of Lords about possible sites for fracking, he said that while there are some ‘beautiful natural areas’ where fracking may not be suitable because of the potential disturbance it brings, he went on to say: "But there are large and uninhabited and desolate areas. Certainly in parts of the north-east where there's plenty of room for fracking."

Disagree with Lord Howell? Share your beautiful photographs of the north-east by clicking the blue button on this page. We’ll create a gallery of a selection of your landscapes, be they of industrial grandeur in Redcar, coastal wildness in Whitby, dramatic Northumberland countryside, or any other area of beauty, desolate or not...

• This project was suggested by @cassidymark.Thanks Mark.

Summary: Is the north-east of England really desolate? Show Lord Howell he is wrong by sharing your beautiful photographs of the area


'Everyone used it for their own agenda' … a detail from Jodi Bieber's shot of Bibi Aisha. Click in the corner for the full image. Photograph: Jodi Bieber/Institute for Time

Last year, I was asked by Time magazine to go to Kabul to take portraits of 18 different Afghan women, to accompany an article being written by Aryn Baker. She interviewed everyone prior to my arrival and told me their stories, including that of Bibi Aisha, whose husband had cut off her ears and nose. She had left him; he and a group of Taliban tracked her down.

We met Aisha at the Women for Afghan Women shelter, where the director told us more about her psychological state. She couldn't determine how Aisha would respond to a photo-grapher: if at any point Aisha became uncomfortable, we would have to terminate the shoot.

Before I start, I try to make a subject feel comfortable through small talk, and already I could see that Aisha was quite extraordinary. Then I began and it wasn't working so well, so I put the camera down and said: "Would it be possible to not think about what happened to you for a few minutes and just focus on your inner power and beauty?" So she did and I took the picture.

I thought that Time was going to be disappointed because I didn't show Aisha as a victim, or include her ears, but they were over the moon and ran it on the cover with the headline: "What happens if we leave Afghanistan?" In the west, the left said that it was war pornography. A rabbi said of it: "Look how all Muslims are." Everyone used it for their own agenda. But the charity loved the publicity, for highlighting the plight of Afghan women.

Aisha now lives in New York and is adapting to her new life there. She is a fiery, young woman, very confident with or without her prosthetic nose. She is now in consultation with an amazing surgeon.

For me, the photograph, which won the 2010 World Press Photo award, speaks about violence against women: a domestic war. It doesn't happen in every country quite like this, but anyone who has been violated might identify. Most people who suffer are portrayed as victims rather than as powerful: this shows Aisha as a survivor.

Studied: The Market Photography Workshop, Johannesburg.

Influences: People on the street.

High point: "Winning the World Press Photo award."

Low point: "As a freelance, when nothing is happening."

Top tip: "Have passion and work hard."

Summary: Jodi Bieber: She lives in New York now, a fiery young woman,  very confident with or without her prosthetic nose


When I was growing up in north Wales in the 1970s, the only place you could see modern art was on television. That was where I first encountered the art of Robert Rauschenberg, who has died aged 82. It was while watching a glass box in our lounge that I fell in love with his generous vision of what art might be. For me, Rauschenberg's 1955-59 work Monogram - a stuffed goat standing placidly on a plinth of interlayered painted scraps, its woolly body stuffed through a rubber tyre - will always be associated with the critic Robert Hughes' powerful Australian voice. In his landmark BBC series, The Shock of the New, Hughes explained that - of course - the goat is a sexual metaphor. "Goats are the oldest metaphors of priapic energy. This one, with its paint-smutched, thrusting head and its body stuck halfway through the encircling tyre, is one of the few great icons of male homosexual love in modern culture ... "

Listening to this, I knew nothing about Robert Rauschenberg. I didn't know that in the 1950s, when he created his famous "combines", works that sensually and melancholically combine found objects with great daubs of paint, he was involved in a triangular relationship with artists Jasper Johns and Cy Twombly. (Rauschenberg's marriage to Susan Weil, and its breakup after the birth of their son Christopher, added another strand to his highly charged and personal imagery.)

But you really don't need to know that, or even to see Monogram as Hughes did. Nowadays, the most obvious fact about Monogram is that it anticipates Damien Hirst's animal vitrines by more than three decades. Perhaps Hirst was watching TV, too, that night; perhaps he was struck by its comedy and mystery. Monogram got me interested not just in Rauschenberg, but in wanting to write about art. And, in a very Freudian way, I have avoided ever seeing the original - as if to preserve my 14-year-old television memory.

Robert Rauschenberg was one of the most generous, intelligent artists of the modern world, and I think of my encounters with his work as great events in my life. Rauschenberg's Bed (1955) uses a patchwork quilt a friend had given him, a real dirty pillow and sheet, scribbled on with pencil and splattered with paints. You see, looking at it, how he was always in some sense an abstract expressionist painter, loving to slap on the colours as freely as Jackson Pollock. Pollock, too, incorporated real objects into his work, embedding nails and cigarette butts into the surfaces of his paintings. But not like this. If Monogram revives the satyrs of antiquity in a derelict tyre yard, Bed is smeared with the aftermath of passion. When I first saw it at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in the early 1990s, my partner and I were living in New England, with a mattress on the floor - pretty much like Rauschenberg's. I remember the asphalt burning on a hot New York day, the steel-framed mass and vertiginous shadows of the city; you saw materials for Rauschenberg assemblages on every corner. On the tabletop at home in Providence, I played around with photographs and paint, trying to be Rauschenberg. Nirvana's Heart-Shaped Box was playing, Bill Clinton was president, and there were artists at work on every 10th porch. I was in love with America the beautiful, with Rauschenberg its trashcan laureate.

For me, Rauschenberg's art is about love, history, politics. From my very first visits to the Tate Gallery (as it was called in those days), one of my favourite works there has been Rauschenberg's 1962 painting Almanac, a fractured montage of silkscreened news photographs that drift spectrally through mists of white paint. Rauschenberg's silkscreen paintings convey the dissonance and conflict of 1960s America - the space race, poverty, his native South - but in an allusive and unresolved way. Its simultaneous engagement with the rich epic of America, and its inability to find sense in it, is reminiscent of Thomas Pynchon's 1960s novels, The Crying of Lot 49 and V. Rauschenberg's 60s paintings mourn JFK; a great series of prints transpose Dante's Inferno to the political struggles of the decade. When I look at Rauschenberg, I see the terrible broken epic of modern America. No question, he will be remembered as one of his country's great artists. I'm headed for Tate Modern to toast Almanac.

Summary: Robert Rauschenberg's generous, epic vision captured the chaos of modern America. Jonathan Jones pays tribute to the man who first made him want to write about art


It’s subjective, of course, but we can probably agree on at least one thing: A summer soundtrack should reflect all the joys of outdoor barbecues, quiet nights under the stars, blankets sprawled on beaches, and car windows down on a road trip.

Where you find that bliss — be it in the Beach Boys, Van Halen, Jimmy Buffett, or Katy Perry — depends on your taste and the occasion.

“I mean, you can’t lose with surf-y guitars on top of a light beat and a nice melody — you’re surfin’,” says Frankie Rose, part of an indie-rock duo called Beverly, whose new debut, “Careers,” is what I will personally keep in heavy rotation all summer long.

With the season’s many moods in mind, here’s a roundup of new albums that honor the art of the summer soundtrack.

Riding in on a humid wave of 1990s guitar rock and ’60s girl-group harmonies, the debut from the new project of Frankie Rose and Drew Citron is pure ear candy. Beverly keeps its jams sticky and sweet, from the spectral glow of “Yale’s Life” to the menacing swagger of “Ambular,” which barrels out of the speakers like the soundtrack to a car chase. And “Honey Do” will have you playing air drums and singing into a hairbrush. (“Careers” will be released on Tuesday.) ESSENTIAL “Honey Do”

Like his friend Sharon Jones, with whom he has previously collaborated, Fields is not a retro-minded artist. Starting with 1979’s scorching “Let’s Talk It Over,” he has been around long enough to be considered a real deal in R&B and soul music. On “Emma Jean,” his latest release with his band, the Expressions, Fields showcases a burnished voice that quakes and quivers with the wisdom only age and experience can afford. ESSENTIAL “Magnolia”

From Uruguay, Santé Les Amis is the kind of band that transcends provenance and language. Their kamikaze take on dance music — a little funk here, some electro-rock there, shake vigorously — brings to mind another of South America’s great party bands, Venezuela’s Los Amigos Invisibles. “Sudamericana,” which Nacional Records recently released in the States, thumps with a nocturnal vibe, suited for the ride to the club as well as last call at closing time. ESSENTIAL “El Último Verano”

On their first collaborative album since playing together in the Blasters 30 years ago, the brothers Alvin salute one of their heroes and a towering figure in blues: Big Bill Broonzy. “Common Ground” has the pluck and swing of a porch pickin’ party, with the Alvins swapping licks and vocals on a number of Broonzy classics: “Key to the Highway,” “All By Myself,” and “Southern Flood Blues.” “We’re brothers. We argue sometimes,” Dave Alvin says in the press materials. “But one thing we never argue about is Big Bill Broonzy.” ESSENTIAL “Key to the Highway”

And now for something completely different. Before Jobriath became an early icon of glam rock, influencing everyone from Morrissey to Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, he was a piano-pounding madman brimming with raw talent. Heavily hyped at the time, his two solo albums fizzled, but this new collection of his previously unreleased material from the early ’70s is stripped of Jobriath’s signature flamboyance, revealing his penchant for soulful decadence and enough hedonism to rival Elton John. ESSENTIAL “As the River Flows”

“Delorean Dynamite” is the name of a song on Todd Terje’s new album, and the reference to the time-traveling car from the “Back to the Future” movies surely wasn’t an accident. Todd Terje — the alias of Norwegian DJ, songwriter, and producer Terje Olsen — has a similarly warped sense of time on his first full-length release. Save for Bryan Ferry’s stately vocals on “Johnny and Mary,” a cover of the Robert Palmer tune, “It’s Album Time” is mostly instrumental, and devoted to sustaining one long groove that touches down on disco, lounge, and chillwave. ESSENTIAL “Delorean Dynamite”

Band members have joked that their music as Vacationer is “nu-hula,” which is to say a new wave of tropical music. You can hear that distinction throughout “Relief,” an album that relishes the journey far more than any specific destination. These songs unfurl at a leisurely pace, sounding like interludes in old movies about exotic locales, but topped with samples, hip-hop beats, and dreamy guitar lines. ESSENTIAL “Stay”

Largely unknown here and a bit of a cult favorite in her native England, Cook puts a sly twist on reggae, imbuing it with the soft caress of ’70s soul — Sade by way of Kingston, if you will. On her new sophomore album, the daughter of Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook continues to find the sweet spot between reggae and dub’s poppier elements and the sheer breeziness of her voice. ESSENTIAL “Desdemona”

This pairing of New Orleans pianist Henry Butler and trumpeter-arranger Steven Bernstein is a spirited joy ride through jazz in its many incarnations. Backed by the Hot 9, a horn-heavy ensemble that punctuates the duo’s playing with a punch to the gut, Butler and Bernstein careen through a freewheeling set of rural blues and Dixieland boogie. (Ahead of its physical release on July 15, the album is available digitally.) ESSENTIAL “Viper’s Drag”

Recently debuting at number two on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop albums chart, “Mali Is . . .” — well, it’s many things. It’s silky soul (“Beautiful”), atmospheric R&B (“Ready Aim”), and a clear representation of how those genres have evolved over the past few years. A less-is-more approach underpins this album, which marks the major-label debut of Mali Music, the stage name of the gospel-leaning singer and songwriter born Jamaal Pollard. ESSENTIAL “Beautiful”

Summary: James Reed uncovers the summertime albums you might have missed, but shouldn’t.


Oscar-winning executive producer and director James Cameron has always been active in environmental issues. That’s one of the reasons executive producers Joel Bach and David Gelber reached out to him about Years of Living Dangerously, a nine-part documentary series on climate change that aired earlier this year on Showtime.

The pair of 60 Minutes producers left the security of their CBS jobs to raise the money and bring to life personal stories from around the globe focusing on climate change. The gamble paid off: Years of Living Dangerously was nominated for two Emmy awards: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming. The awards will be given out later this month.

“This is their conception,” Cameron said. “They come out of investigative journalism at 60 Minutes with an incredible pedigree and they believe strongly in this issue. This is the biggest problem our civilization is facing, and they just felt that they needed to quit their day job and go do this. I respect that kind of passion. I also happen to agree with them that this is an enormous problem that we’re facing.”

Bach said that while 60 Minutes was willing to cover climate change stories once a year, the show had a full slate. And Bach and Gelber had unearthed too many stories that they wanted to fully explore. What began as a traditional documentary movie idea evolved into a television series after a meeting with executive producer Jerry Weintraub, who said TV was the best medium to reach a wide audience. But it was not without it’s challenges.

“Look at all the other environmental shows on TV, there aren’t any,” said Cameron. “They’re almost impossible to get funded. I’ve been trying to get environmentally themed programming funded for years. It’s just nobody wants to make it because they know that people don’t tune in. So the question was how can we do something that is so compelling that we actually generate some viewership.”

Bach and Gelber decided to use Hollywood actors who were interested in climate change to serve as correspondents who would be “on the ground” exploring the issues. They were able to attract the likes of Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Harrison Ford, Jessica Alba, Michael C. Hall, Ian Somerhalder, Olivia Munn and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also signed on as an executive producer. But that was an idea that Cameron wasn’t on board with at first.

“I have to admit that I was wrong because my initial take when Joel and David proposed that was we were going to cheapen our message,” said Cameron. “I turned out to be wrong on that because there’s a difference between a celebrity coming in and doing some drive-by environmentalism, where they just do a quick five-minute standup and they phone it in versus what these men and women did. They really committed to rolling up their sleeves and becoming investigative journalists themselves.”

Tapping into celebrities also helped the producers— who raised $1 million in funding for the project outside of the Hollywood studio system— connect with millions of social media users.

“Our social media presence is pretty good for an environmental documentary series,” said Bach. “Arnold has over 10 million Facebook fans and Ian has over 13 million. Those two have active and loyal fan bases. Ian has a young fan set who clamor to hear whatever he has to say. He’s been a powerful force in activating a younger generation. Olivia Munn has a big Twitter presence and Don Cheadle and Chris Hayes have also been active. Every week they send out posts on Facebook or Twitter about the show. It’s a new powerful tool that didn’t exist 10 years ago.”

In addition to Showtime re-airing the first season this fall to its 23 million subscribers, it will also be available on DVD, iTunes and Amazon beginning September 7. Bach said Showtime saw this show as a one-season project. But Bach said the producers are currently talking to multiple cable and network outlets that are very interested in continuing the series.

“The Emmy Award nominations will help us with our second season,” said Cameron. “It will raise the show’s stature. We weren’t happy with the ratings numbers that we got. We had hoped for more, but we had been braced for less because historically people tend to not tune into something that’s environmentally themed or climate change related. It’s just something they don’t want to know about. It’s part of the whole denial process that we’re all in as a society that we really have to face up to.”

The website (http://yearsoflivingdangerously.com/) offers a call to action for viewers to connect directly with organizations involved in climate change. It also asks people to write in and share their own stories, which could end up in the second season of the show.

“When people have legitimate stories of how they’re being impacted, we could incorporate that into the show,” said Cameron. “We’re especially interested in converts — people who believed because of a lifetime of political and social perspective that they grew up with, and then all of a sudden they’re thinking for themselves. They’re confronted with the facts and the consequences and they become converts. Those are the people that we want because we need a lot more converts. We need middle America to wake up and smell the coffee.”

While the website currently offers a section for educators, Bach said a huge initiative is in the works with the National Wildlife Federation. They’re taking all nine episodes and turning them into curriculum for classes. Each episode is being edited down into segments for middle school, high school and college instructors can talk about topics like science, politics and environment.

“We’ve been inundated with requests to get this into the schools,” said Bach. “It’s great for kids because we’re not just shoving facts down their throats.”

Bach said males ages 55 to 64 were the most active when it comes to participating in climate change activism, but they designed the show to reach a broad audience. Cameron added that after viewing the show, it’s important to use technology and have legitimate and informative places for people to find out how they can take action.

“There’s a problem with documentary television in general that it doesn’t give you action items,” said Cameron. “You’re left with this sense of hopeless dread and it creates a free floating anxiety. That’s why people unplug. But if you do have a call to arms and people do feel like there are things they can legitimately do to make a difference for their kids and the world at large, they’ll do them.”

Cameron is also practicing what he preaches with the production of the next three Avatar films, which will feature green sets. In fact, the Manhattan Beach Studios will use solar power to be net positive, which means they’ll be selling back more energy that they’re consuming despite the massive amount of computing that the movies will require.

Summary: The Oscar-winning director practices what he preaches when it comes to green initiatives, hopes Emmy nods bring his Years of Living Dangerously doc to a larger audience.


NEW YORK — Taylor Swift is saying goodbye to country music, for now: The singer says she’s releasing her first full-length pop album on Oct. 27.

The 24-year-old revealed in a livestream via Yahoo! on Monday that ‘‘1989,’’ named for her birth year, is her ‘‘first documented official pop album.’’

The first single is the upbeat jam ‘‘Shake It Off,’’ which she debuted during the livestream and was released Monday. She danced happily in a cropped white top and skirt with the audience as the song played.

Swift called her upcoming fifth album a ‘‘rebirth.’’

‘‘We made the most sonically cohesive album I’ve ever made,’’ she said of ‘‘1989,’’ which was available for pre-order on Monday.

Swift’s last effort was 2012’s ‘‘Red,’’ which sold 1.2 million copies in its first week. Swift said she was mainly inspired by late ‘80s pop music when recording ‘‘1989’’ over the past two years.

‘‘I woke up every day ... not wanting, but needing to make a new style of music than I made before,’’ she told the audience.

The singer also premiered the music video for ‘‘Shake It Off’’ during the livestream. The song was produced by Max Martin and Shellbeck, who helmed the Swift hits ‘‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together’’ and ‘‘I Knew You Were Trouble.’’

Summary: NEW YORK (AP) — Taylor Swift is saying goodbye to country music, for now: The singer says she’s releasing her first full-length pop album on Oct. 27.