Tired of being sexy, Sao Paulo gives Brazil a new urban sound

Forget picture-postcard Brazil with its sunny beaches, bikinis, palm trees and languid bossa novas: instead think abrasive, urban, industrial, think CCS, rising star of Sao Paulo's very distinctive musical scene.

"Sao Paulo is the economic centre of the country, a huge industrial town, culturally different to Rio or Bahia," said Carolina Parra of CSS, which this month released worldwide its second album "Donkey".

"This town is a bit of a mix of Los Angeles, Chicago and some giant, fast growing Chinese city," said Olivier Durand of the indie French record label Nacopajaz, which recently released "Satanic Samba", a compilation of Sao Paulo's underground music.

With 11 million inhabitants, Sao Paulo, capital of the region of the same name, is the biggest city in Brazil. "The climate is much colder and wetter than Rio, and there is no beach in the city," said Durand. "In a more urban and industrial environment like this, trends are more alternative, more underground."

Although Durand shies away from categorising music by place of origin, he says the Sao Paulo sound is more corrosive, nervy and punkish than sounds normally associated with Brazil.

Four women -- the singer Lovefoxxx, Luiza Sa, Ana Rezende and Carolina -- plus a lone male, Adriano Cintra, make up CSS, and its unbridled electro rock style with English lyrics.

Since the stunning world success of its first album in 2006, CSS, which stands for "Cansei de Ser Sexy" or "Tired of being Sexy" (a name inspired by a quote attributed to American pop star, Beyonce) has been pulling international attention to Sao Paulo's underground music scene.

Here, along with CSS -- whose second album has pushed them towards a live rock style destined for stage rather than studio -- stand a host of other musicians, both new and old.

The Satanic Samba album for example, includes, the new, such as CSS, Bonde do Role, Sulpa, Hurtmold, The Sao Paulo Underground and The Satanique Samba Trio, as well as Brazilian musical legends such as 71-year-old Tom Ze.

Ze was one of the key figures in the so-called "Tropicalia", or tropicalist social, cultural and musical movement against the authoritarian Brazilian regime of the 1960s.
Dubbed the "avant-tropicalist", Ze was followed by stars such as Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and the psychedelic Os Mutantes.

The album and its music is stamped with aggressive urban energy, as well as deviant multi-racial mixes of punk, electro, hip hop, rock, bossa nova and samba.

It also features, for those who know something about this kind of music and its history, a wacky version of Serge Gainsbourg's "La decadanse" by another Sao Paulo local, Benzina, aka guitarist Edgard Scandurra.

"Musically, Sao Paulo has always been a pioneer city," said Durand. It is also a boiling-pot of culture, particularly contemporary art forms.

"It's a city full of possibilities, there is an intense artistic life here, lots of clubs," said CSS's Ana, who knows that design, fashion and video form part of the artistic attraction of the group.

And to clinch the deal on the city's attractions over those of beach postcard style Brazil, she adds: "For young people, its easier to find new foreign music in Sao Paulo than anywhere else in the country."

Sarawak up to expectation: Jason Brooke

Brooke (second right) watches a Sarakraf Pavillion craftsman work on a ‘sape’, a traditional Orang Ulu musical instrument.

A great grandson of Charles Brooke, Jason Brooke, said Sarawak was up to his expectation after one week in the state. The youngest of the Brookes to visit the state 62 years after the rule of the White Rajahs ended, Jason has visited Fort Margherita, Sarawak Cultural Village, Sarawak Museum, Square Tower and the old courthouse.

On a three-week private visit, he was all praise for the hospitability of those he met throughout his stay here, adding that it was quite overwhelming.

“Sarawakians are famed for their hospitality, but being here and actually experiencing it is quite unbelievable,” he said.

The fascinating stories told by his grandfather, Anthony, when he was small has influenced him greatly, and he wanted to learn about the culture and people of Sarawak.

“Since young, I always felt a connection with Sarawak through my grandfather and I have always wanted to come here and experience the culture and tradition for myself,” said the 23-year-old when he visited Sarakraf Pavillion yesterday and said it had been a memorable trip for him.

He said he was waiting for the right time to make a trip down memory lane of his forefathers and figured that the suitable time would be after he completed his studies in English Literature at University College Dublin, Ireland.

“I always felt that I should wait until I am old enough to appreciate it (Sarawak ethnic culture) rather than come here as a teenager.

“I was thrilled to find that most of the old colonial buildings are still open and well-looked after.
“Most of them are now museums. It’s a nice feeling to be able to go around the main parts of the city like the waterfront on foot,” he said.

His grandfather, the heir apparent and nephew of the Third Rajah Sir Vyner Brooke, was banished from Sarawak after the end of the Second World War for opposing the cession of the Rajah’s territory to the British Crown but was allowed to return 17 years later, after it gained independence through Malaysia.

In tracing his family’s long heritage in Sarawak, Jason said he also grew up knowing about his family’s connection through his father, James Brooke, who actually lived here as a baby in the early 1940s and now resides in Edinburgh, Scotland.

“I kept in touch with a lot of people in Sarawak, including various writers such as Vincent Foo, who authored the “Sarawak Steamship Company” and “A History Of Sarawak Club” and through family photographs,” said Jason who delighted many guests present when he wore a tie of the Sarawak Association which traced its roots back to 1924.

He was also actively involved with the United Kingdom-based association, which will mark its centennial celebration in 16 years’ time and whose membership is drawn from British expatriates who had served in the state, as well as Sarawakians.

The younger of two brothers, Jason is thrilled that Kuching city had lived up to his expectation, with so many historic buildings which could be traced to the Brooke era, still in existence and well adapted to the present time.

Rights group wants US officials probed for ordering torture

A Nobel-prize-winning rights group said US officials committed war crimes by ordering what the group says was torture of detainees, and called for them to be probed and prosecuted.

"There must be a complete and independent investigation of what happened in Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and other places where terrorist suspects were detained," Allen Keller of Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) told a briefing in the US House of Representatives Thursday.

"We urge that a full investigation in the form of an independent non-partisan commission that has access to all documents and has subpoena power to obtain relevant documents as well as the testimony of officials," PHR president Leonard Rubenstein said.

"There must be accountability... accountability must include prosecuting individuals who have committed war crimes, whatever their place in the chain of command," he added.

The doctors described graphically how detainees held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in Iraq and Afghanistan had been subjected to "torture and abuse while in US custody that was sadly second to none."

The ordeals suffered by the 11 detainees, all of whom have been released without charge, were outlined in a report compiled by PHR and released three weeks ago.

Keller told how one former Guantanamo prisoner who was interviewed for the report was beaten, stripped naked, subjected to intimidation by dogs, hooded, thrown against a wall and sustained electric shocks from a generator.

He also endured sexual humiliation, including an incident where "a naked woman entered the interrogation room and smeared him with what he believed to be menstrual blood."

Another prisoner was "forced to lie face-down in urine and sodomized with a broomstick," Keller said.

"As a physician and scientist who has spent much of his professional career evaluating and caring for victims of torture and abuse, I want to clearly state that torture and inhuman interrogation techniques are cruel, ineffective and can have devastating health consequences," Keller said.

"I am very concerned that when we as a country condone such methods, we are putting our soldiers and other US citizens living around the world at risk," he added.

"We have violated the golden rule that we preached for years: don't torture. So what do we do? We change the name. We called it 'enhanced interrogation techniques'," Keller said.
PHR president Rubenstein echoed the call for a probe.

"Accountability must include prosecuting individuals who have committed war crimes, whatever their place in the chain of command," said Rubenstein.

In the preface to the PHR report entitled "Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical evidence of torture by US personnel and its impact," retired US Army general Antonio Teguba said bluntly that there was "no longer any doubt that the current administration has committed war crimes."
"The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account," said Teguba, who led the official investigation into the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.

Abu Ghraib prison became infamous after the publication in 2004 of photographs showing Iraqi detainees being humiliated and abused by their US guards. The scandal led to the sentencing of 11 US soldiers to up to 10 years in prison.

Physicians for Human Rights shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 as one of the original steering committee members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Rich, famous and – most importantly – single

GEORGE CLOONEY-He’s Hollywood’s most eligible bachelor, the perennial prince of singletons, the most charming in an industry of very charming men. Meet George Clooney: political activist, Academy Award winning movie star, critically-acclaimed director… and avowed bachelor. It’s already hard enough hanging on to him as a boyfriend so you can forget about that marriage certificate. Just ask Sarah Larson.

ANNE HATHAWAY
She’s newly single and the sexy star of new release Get Smart – what’s not to love about Anne Hathaway? The fact that her ex-boyfriend Raffaello Follieri has just been arrested for suspicious business dealings only clears the path for all you men out there. Psst, we have it from a source that she’s looking for a guy like Steve Carell, her Get Smart co-star.
BEN BARNES-Ben Barnes is as pretty as any actor out there, but he also has the added bonus of being just the slightest bit rough around the edges. We suspect it has to do with his newness to fame, his age (he turns 27 in August) and a latent maturity. We’re definitely not complaining.
TAYLOR SWIFT-Fast making a name for herself in the country music (and dating!) scene is Taylor Swift, who even though is still pretty young at 18 years old, is doing her darn-dest best to give Carrie Underwood a run for her money. We can’t think why any guy would be the reason for teardrops on her guitar.
CHACE CRAWFORD-Just when we thought Zac Efron was the prettiest boy-toy in Tinseltown, along comes Chace Crawford to set girls’ hearts aflutter. The Gossip Girl star has always been a gorgeous one and unlike Zac, he’s single! We hope those good looks continue to serve him well for many, many years to come.
PETRA NEMCOVA-What’s better than one of the most beautiful models in the world? A beautiful model who is single and has a big heart to boot! After she survived the 2004 tsunami, Petra Nemcova – who lost her fiancé to the disaster – started The Happy Hearts Fund, a charitable organisation that helps disadvantaged children. We don’t know about you guys, but we find that really attractive.

JOE JONAS-He’s the best looking member of the biggest teen trio in the world so 17 years old or not, Joe Jonas is definitely hot property. We’ll admit it was a little weird for us at first – after all, we’re not used to heartthrobs who aren’t even legal yet, but we soon got used to it.
TERRENCE HOWARD
He’s proved his acting mettle, even getting nominated for an Oscar for his performance in Hustle & Flow, but Terrence Howard is far from done. This September will see the release of his debut album Terrence Howard – Me and the Band of Kings, and having heard preview tracks of the record, all we can say is: the man’s got the goods!
CARRIE UNDERWOOD
Besides being one of American Idol’s most successful graduates, Carrie Underwood has also single-handedly changed our perception of country singers. Seriously, did you even imagine they could be this hot? It’s too bad she and Chace Crawford broke up – they would have made such irresistible babies. But it’s good news for the blokes, we suppose.
ADAM LEVINE-Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, even tennis babe Maria Sharapova; these are just three of the women who have fallen under Adam’s charms and charisma at one time or another, but the man remains resolutely single, preferring instead to play the field. No wonder he’s got a reputation for being a womaniser.

DANIEL RADCLIFFE-He’s one of the most eligible young men in the world, thanks in part to the estimated £17million fortune he amassed playing Harry Potter. But Daniel has more than one trick up his sleeve: determined not to be typecast, the boy wizard proved his worthy acting chops with a Broadway and West End stint in the stage production Equus. Rich, young, talented and single? He’s too good to be true!

Captured war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most wanted men, was arrested on genocide charges while practising medicine under a fake name in Belgrade, officials said Tuesday.

Karadzic, the wartime Bosnian Serb leader who had managed to remain at large for 13 years despite an international manhunt, was arrested by Serbian security forces on Monday night.

Despite his status as one of the most wanted men on the planet, Karadzic, 63, had been working in a medical clinic with only a false name and a beard to conceal his identity.

"He was working and performing alternative medicine, making money that way," said Rasim Ljajic, the Serbian minister in charge of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

"He was very convincing in hiding his identity," said Ljajic, who held up a photograph of Karadzic with almost hippy-like long white hair and beard.

Of all the ICTY fugitives , Karadzic was always the subject of the most fevered speculation about his whereabouts.

He had last been seen in public in the eastern Bosnian town of Han Pijesak in July 1996, and was previously thought to have hidden away in Serb-controlled parts of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia, or even Russia.

Following his capture, he was questioned by a magistrate who concluded "all conditions have been met for his transfer" to The Hague for trial, said Serbia's war crimes prosecutor.

The arrest of Karadzic -- wanted for orchestrating two of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II, the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre -- means there are only two more fugitives of the UN court at large.

They are his former military commander Ratko Mladic, 65, and Goran Hadzic, 49, a former Serb politician wanted for "ethnic cleansing" in Croatia.

The handover of the war crimes fugitives is a major pre-condition for Serbian accession to the European Union.
Karadzic's arrest took place two
weeks after the formation of a new pro-EU membership government dominated by President Boris Tadic's pro-Western Democratic Party.

It also came only four days after Sasa Vukadinovic, close to the Democrats, became the head of Serbia's police intelligence agency, replacing an official aligned with former hardline nationalist prime minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Karadzic's arrest was welcomed by the United States, the European Union, and the UN war crimes court.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon hailed it as "a historic moment for the victims" and praised Serbia for taking a "decisive step" toward ending impunity for those indicted for war crimes.

Bosnian Croats and Muslims, against whom Karadzic waged a barbaric campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in the early 1990s, see him as a murderous megalomaniac.

"I had lost all hope that this would ever happen. But the wheels of justice grind slowly," said Sejo Hodzic, who was shot by a sniper during the Sarajevo siege.

While Muslims staged noisy celebrations on Sarajevo's streets, Serbs in Karadzic's wartime stronghold of Pale expressed their anger and disappointment.

"It's not fair. Only Serbs stand war crimes trials at The Hague," said Slavko Vasic, 45.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who served as a mediator in the Balkans conflict, hailed the capture of Karadzic as "late, late, late, but good, good, good."

"A major thug has been removed from the scene," former US envoy to the Balkans Richard Holbrooke said, describing Karadzic as the "Osama bin Laden of Europe."

But the Russian foreign ministry stressed any trial should be "impartial," accusing the UN court of "an often biased approach."

Karadzic's lawyer Svetozar Vujacic said his client would appeal the decision to transfer him to The Hague, while his brother stated Karadzic and his family were "optimistic" he could beat the war crimes charges.

"Thank God, my brother is alive and healthy. I can say that he is bursting with optimism," said Luka Karadzic.

In the bitter war against Bosnia's Muslim-led government, Karadzic is said to have authorised "ethnic cleansing" in which more than a million non-Serbs were driven from their homes in villages where they had lived for generations.

The expulsions were accompanied, according to foreign observers, by widespread killings and up to 20,000 rapes in a calculated programme of terror.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he hoped Karadzic's arrest would now help unblock a key EU-Serbia accord.

The Netherlands, which backed by Belgium is the last EU member country to hold out on the application of the EU rapprochement agreement, urged Serbia to continue cooperating with the UN tribunal.

Karadzic's arrest "proves that Serbia is able to catch war criminals (but) I will continue to insist towards Belgrade on the arrest of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic," said Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen.

Karadzic was a close ally of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in custody in The Hague in 2006, before the ICTY delivered a verdict in his case.


Agence France-Presse - 7/22/2008 3:08 PM GMT

Rainforest World Music Festival 2008 in Sarawak Malaysia

Ethnic beat: Members of Tuku Kame from Sarawak performing at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Santubong near Kuching on Saturday night.

KUCHING: It was great music as thousands danced to the drumbeats at the Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak Cultural Village in Santubong near here.

Partying all night long, music fans had a great time as the seven foreign and local musical groups thrilled them during the five-hour concert on Saturday.

The organisers estimated the crowd for the three nightly concerts to be 24,000 this year, up from 22,000 who attended the music festival last year.

The organising board was considering organising mini concerts next year in other venues in the city, like at the ampitheatre at Jalan Budaya, to enable more people to enjoy the popular musical event.

The musicians who performed on Saturday were Sheldon Blackman (from Trinidad and Tobago), Hiroshi Motorfuji (Japan), Yakande (Gambia/Guinea), Adel Salameh (Palestine/Algeria), Beltaine (Poland), Kelabit band Kani’d and Tuku Kame (both from Sarawak).

Besides the nightly concerts, musical workshops that featured the performing bands held in the afternoon sessions were also crowd pullers.

The workshops were held simultaneously in separate native traditional houses in the village.

Malaysia, Australia hail new era of relations

Malaysia and Australia said Thursday they will jointly train regional personnel for UN peacekeeping operations, as part of a new level of collaboration after serious discord in the past.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hailed Malaysia as a "vibrant democracy" after March elections that saw the opposition win a third of parliamentary seats in an unprecedented result.

And he said their joint peacekeeping plans, and a separate scheme to train teachers for Afghanistan, "points to a new phase in the relationship between Australia and Malaysia."

Rudd, who is on his first visit to Malaysia as premier, said the two nations' armed forces would boost the capabilities of regional nations wanting to take part in UN operations.

"Many countries wish to put up their hands and say they wish to contribute to peacekeeping operations in the world, but may not have the specific training and expertise to do so," he told a press conference.

"What we've agreed today... is to provide joint training platforms, programmes and expertise between our two armed forces for regional countries wishing to participate in UN peacekeeping operations around the world."

Rudd said the two countries will also jointly train teachers from Afghanistan, adding development and education were vital to the country's future.

"In Malaysia we have an extraordinary exemplar, a Muslim society and a Muslim country... which can comfortably partner with the particular needs of the education system in Afghanistan," he said.

Malaysia and Australia have been at loggerheads in the past. A major irritant was the jailing a decade ago of former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, convicted on sex and corruption charges seen as politically motivated.

Australia gave Anwar its firm backing then, but Rudd has reportedly decided not to meet with him on this visit. Anwar is now opposition leader and has riled the government by saying he is on the verge of seizing power.

However, Rudd said that "democracy is not just alive and well in Malaysia but flourishing."

"What has been great for us all to see in the councils of the world is the strength of Malaysia's democratic processes and the fact that these democratic processes have been tested and applied in recent elections," he said.

Global Fuel Price Hike : As gas prices bite, Americans go Roman and eye up Vespas

For the longest time, big has been beautiful in America, at least in terms of cars. But as petrol prices bite into American pocketbooks, US motorists are ending their love affair with the "Yank tank", and many are considering the ultimate step in downsizing: losing two wheels and riding a scooter.

"Americans love cars, especially big cars, and for them to decide to use something different has not been an easy decision," Paolo Timoni, chief executive of Piaggio Group Americas, producer of the classic Italian Vespa and Piaggio scooters that crowd roundabouts from Rome to Naples, told AFP.

"But it appears that gas prices at four dollars a gallon have been a tilting point that has pushed people toward making the change," Timoni added.

Scooter sales ballooned more than ten-fold in the United States between 1997 and last year, climbing from 12,000 to 131,000.

The median price for petrol -- the point where half the prices are above and half below -- in 1997 was around 1.18 dollars.

In mid-June of this year, a gallon of gasoline cost 4.08 dollars, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

In the first quarter of this year, scooter sales grew by 24 percent compared with the same period last year, Mike Mount of the Motorcycle Industry Council said.

"We think that fuel prices have weighed in on some people's decisions to purchase two-wheeled transportation," Mount said.

In May, a monthly record 2,758 Piaggios were sold in the United States and a Piaggio officials forecast that June sales would vastly exceed that record, meaning that sales for those two months would be equal to nearly half of sales in 1997.

"The days of inexpensive gasoline appear to be over," Bob Chase, who set out last month with a scooter-loving friend to ride two Piaggios across the United States, told AFP.

"People are getting out of their big vehicles and getting into more economical modes of transportation," 72-year-old Chase said.

"I live in the San Francisco area. I have a Piaggio MP3-50 at home in my garage and I ride it everywhere I can. I get over 70 miles per gallon on the highway; it'll go 78 miles per hour, and, yes, I take it on the California freeways," he said.

The rise of the scooter has lent a European flair to many US cities, Chase's riding partner, Buddy Rosenbaum, 71, said.

"I'm from New York, and it's remarkable to me how New York is coming to look like Rome: there are Vespas everywhere," Rosenbaum said.

"I only use my car when it's an absolute necessity -- usually when the wife wants to come along," he added.
The scooter began to take wing on this side of the ocean in 2000 and many Americans embraced it as a mode of transport, not just a trendy vehicle that makes you look like an extra in a video for Italian pop singer Eros Ramazzoti.

"The same driving conditions that exist in Europe, where millions of people commute on scooters every day -- high gas prices and terrible traffic congestion -- are becoming a reality in the United States," Timoni explained.

Scooter commuters can dart in between cars and avoid road jams, but riding a scooter requires a new mindset and isn't for everyone, said Dean Thompson, spokesman of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), which oversees and runs rider education courses throughout the United States.

"If you're accident-prone, you should perhaps rethink if a scooter or motorbike is the best mode of transport for you," Thompson said.

"People think: I can do this, it's like a bicycle. It's not. You're in the traffic stream mixing it with cars, pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, buses," he said.

"You're not in a metal cage surrounded by 4,000 pounds (2,000 kilos) of metal."

General Motors to build world's biggest rooftop solar station

US automobile giant General Motors (GM) will announce on Tuesday that it will build the world's largest rooftop solar power station at its biggest factory in Europe, the Financial Times reported.

Its factory in Zaragoza, northern Spain, will be clad in 183,000 square metres of solar panels in a 50 million euro (78.5 million dollar) project to provide a quarter of the factory's power at peak times, the paper said.

The carmaker is working with Veolia Environnement of France and Clairvoyant Energy of the US on the project, which is part of a commitment to greater sustainability.

GM is due to install solar panels on its factory in Saint Petersburg next and is looking at whether to roll out the scheme to its other 19 plants across Europe.