Michigan Town Woos Hollywood, but Ends Up With a Bit Part
By LOUISE STORY
Published: December 3, 2012
PONTIAC, Mich. — Even the great and powerful Oz could not save the film studio that was supposed to save this town.
The studio, a state-of-the-art facility fit for Hollywood blockbusters, had risen from the ruins of a General Motors complex here. It was the brainchild of a small group of investors with big plans: the studio would attract prestigious filmmakers, and the movie productions would create jobs and pump money into the local economy. A glamorous sheen would rub off on this down-on-its-luck town.
A year on from anti-Putin protests, many feel government has tightened the screws
JENNIFER RANKIN in Moscow
They risked a night in the cells, but thousands of ordinary Muscovites went to an illegal anti-government rally to protest against alleged cheating in parliamentary elections on a damp night in early December 2011.
They brandished placards calling Russian leader Vladimir Putin a thief and, in almost-spontaneous demonstrations, kindled the largest protest movement Russia has seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
One year later, Vladimir Putin is still in office, with approval ratings of 50 per cent. The opposition protests have achieved none of their original demands: neither fresh parliamentary elections, nor an investigation into electoral fraud, much less putting Putin on his pension.
Yet those who went to that first protest think something important was achieved.
SYRIA
UN to pull nonessential staff out of Syria
The United Nations has announced it is withdrawing nonessential staff out of Syria owing to the worsening security situation. Meanwhile, Syria's Foreign Ministry spokesman has defected and left the country.
Up to 25 of about 100 international staff could leave this week, the UN announced on Monday, adding that more armored vehicles were needed following attacks on humanitarian aid convoys sometimes caught in crossfire between Syrian government and rebel forces.
"The UN has decided to send all nonessential international staff out of Syria and to halt all field trips outside of the capital for now," the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.
Rwanda, Uganda troops helped DRC rebels take Goma
A report obtained by Agence France-Presse on Monday showed United Nations experts said Rwanda and Uganda helped rebels in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) stage a major offensive in the east of the country last month.
Hundreds of Rwanda's troops bolstered M23 rebels as they took the key city of Goma, while Uganda provided "logistics" support, said a report by the United Nations (UN) sanctions experts sent to the UN Security Council.
The new investigation by the experts piles more pressure on Rwanda's government over its role in the DRC conflict as it prepares to take up a seat on the Security Council on January 1, diplomats said.
Iran's HIV/Aids sufferers struggle for survival
As Iran's economy has faltered and the cost of living has skyrocketed, Iranians living with HIV/Aids are struggling for survival, Roxana Saberi reports.
"Every week, I hear about someone with HIV dying," says an HIV-positive woman who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Healthy people have a lot of problems these days, too, but we're less capable of dealing with them."
She is one of an estimated 96,000 Iranians who the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAIDS) and Iran's government say have HIV; only around a quarter of them have been identified.
Some observers suspect Tehran has underestimated these statistics to avoid darkening the country's Islamic credentials - a charge government officials deny.
Weeks after Obama's Burma visit, the monk who never had a prayer is back in jail
Released for the visit to Burma by President Obama, activist Ashin Gambria has been thrown back in jail after he dared to protest again
Just a few weeks ago, Ashin Gambira was seated in the front row of a Rangoon university hall as President Barack Obama gave a cautious welcome to reform in Burma. The release of the former Buddhist monk –who was serving a six-decade sentence for his role in the 2007 democracy uprising – was seen as one of the signs of a softening of oppression in Burma.
But today Mr Gambira was behind bars again, in what his family say is just the latest incident of harassment by the authorities.
In autumn 2007 Mr Gambira was among the organisers of the Saffron Revolution, when up to 100,000 monks and ordinary citizens marched through Burma’s streets to call for fairer prices and democratic reforms. He was jailed for 63 years but released earlier this year as part of a government amnesty.
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