100 inmates cause riot in Russian prison
Moscow: Around 100 prisoners staged a riot in Russia’s Chelyabinsk detention centre Monday night, a report said Tuesday.
Riots broke out after a convict refused to go out of a prison cell on prison guards’ direction and asked other prisoners for self-maiming, the Russian federal prison authority said.
The convict’s neighbours from other prison cells started knocking on doors, pouring water in the corridor and set fire to mattresses’ cotton-wool.
Eight of the 100 inflicted self-injuries, the authority said. There was no immediate report of any casualty.
“All of them received immediate medical aid. Special law enforcement equipment and physical force were not used against prisoners,” an official said. Police cordoned off the detention centre and Chelyabinsk’s governor was informed about the riots. (IANS)
Elephant slaughter, China ivory sales ‘out of control’
Nairobi: The slaughter of Africa’s elephants and the illegal trade in ivory in China are “out of control” and could push wild elephants extinction within a generation, conservationists said on Tuesday.
Soaring quantities of ivory are being sold in rapidly growing numbers of shops in China, with over 100,000 elephants killed from 2010 to 2012, the joint report read from the campaign groups Save the Elephants and The Aspinall Foundation. “Skyrocketing demand for ivory in China — the wholesale price of raw elephant tusks has tripled in just four years since 2010 — have sparked a booming trade in smuggled ivory that is driving the unsustainable killing of elephants in Africa,” said the report released in the Kenyan capital.
Poaching has risen sharply across Africa in recent years, fuelled by rising demand in Asia for ivory — which finds its way into jewellery and ornaments — and rhino horn, which is coveted as a traditional medicine. Investigators from the campaign groups visited scores of shops and factories in China, the world’s main ivory manufacturing centre, comparing quantities on sale and costs.
“Every metric on the ivory trade has exploded upwards in recent years. The prices of raw and worked ivory in China, number of licensed carving factories, retail outlets both illegal and legal, items on sale, all have shot up,” they said.
“Meanwhile the weight of ivory seized and number of elephants being killed in Africa have also increased.” The number of legal ivory stores in China shot up from 31 in 2004 to 145 last year, while the number of ivory carving factories increased from nine to 37 over the same period. The report warns that illegal sale of ivory in unlicensed stores is growing just as fast. Researchers said prices for raw ivory in China had risen from USD 750 per kilo in 2010 to USD 2,100 in 2014. (AFP)
Where great pianists meet the world’s finest pianos
New York: In Midtown Manhattan just a few yards from Carnegie Hall is a basement where the world’s finest pianos, those created by the house of Steinway & Sons, wait for the world’s most famous pianists to choose from among them for their concerts and personal collections.
Downstairs from the lush baroque of Steinway Hall is a sober space, almost a bunker, where some 20 pianos await visits from the likes of Lang Lang, Diana Krall and “piano man” Billy Joel, who need them for their concerts at Madison Square Garden.
Only these recognised “Steinway artists” have access to the place, where they can practice with the best acoustics and without bothering the neighbours.
“Since 1925 this has been the place where all of the world’s famous pianists have chosen the instruments for their performances, recordings and personal use,” Ron Losby, president of Steinway & Sons-Americas, told Efe news agency.
The company, which in the fall of 2015 will move to what is currently the International Center for Photography in New York City near Bryant Park, has been for the last 90 years the place where virtuosos have tried out these keyboards of ivory and ebony until they find the one they recognise as their soulmate.
“Each one is unique and handmade. Some are very talkative, very sociable, very loud and extroverted… while others are more intimate, almost whispering their sounds,” Steinway’s top executive in the Americas said.
Also to be seen in the basement are photos of customers over the years, from Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Venezuela’s Teresa Carreño to more recent artists like country music star Harry Connick Jr., Japan’s Mitsuko Uchida and Rosa Antonelli of Argentina.
These gems worth $137,000 each are created in the company’s factory in the New York borough of Queens, where “each Steinway piano goes through the hands of 325 people before it’s ready to play”, Losby said. (IANS)
First Tamil newspaper launched in UAE
Dubai: Daily Thanthi, the first Tamil newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, was launched Tuesday. Tamil actors Prasanna and his wife Sneha Prasanna were among those who launched the daily, the Khaleej Times reported. Bala Aditya, director of Dina Thanthi, opened the event. “I am glad to bring Daily Thanthi to the UAE. I have have been raised here. Hence the introduction of this daily to the country is very close to my heart,” said Sneha Prasanna. “The Tamil population in the UAE has definitely grown over the years. It is evident with the rise of Tamil radio stations. So I think it a good idea to present a newspaper too,” she said. The 12-page launch edition was distributed among the guests. (IANS)
Belgium seeks to have potato fries declared cultural heritage
Callifornia: There are some 5,000 of these in Belgium, making them 10 times more common, per capita, than McDonald’s restaurants in the United States.
To become recognized by the United Nations’ cultural arm Unesco, they need to be endorsed by a minister of culture, and Belgium has three of them.
The government of the Dutch speaking region of Flanders recognized Belgian fries as an integral part of national culture this year, and the French- and German-speaking communities are expected to debate the issue next year.
UNAFRI, the national association of fritkot owners, which started the drive, says the unpolished establishments are uniquely Belgian, combining the country’s embrace of chaos with a dislike of corporate uniformity.
“A cone of potato chips is Belgium in miniature. What’s astounding is that this way of thinking is the same, notwithstanding the different communities and regions,” said spokesman Bernard Lefevre.
Many tourists join the locals in the long queues at popular Brussels fritkots such as Frit Flagey and Maison Antoine.
“Before I came here, one of the only things I knew about Belgium was that they liked their fries, so I think they are pretty much there already,” said Rachael Webb, a visitor from Ottawa, Canada, holding a cone of fries.
Unesco has a list of 314 items of intangible cultural heritage worthy of preservation, ranging from Turkish coffee to the polyphonic singing of the Aka pygmies of the Central African Republic. Potatoes reached Belgium in the 16th century, but it was not until the 19th century that they were widely sold chipped and fried as a meal in themselves. UNAFRI says 95% of Belgians visit a fritkot at least once a year. (Reuters)
Gambia censures Guinea for not saying ‘thank you’ over Ebola grant
BANJUL (Gambia): The Gambia rebuked Guinea on Thursday over its “bizarre attitude” to diplomacy, accusing its near neighbour of refusing to say thank you for a $500,000 donation to its Ebola response.
The government said in a statement the cash, sent in September, had been acknowledged with gratitude by Guinea’s central bank while the government had remained silent. “This bizarre attitude on the side of the government of Guinea is unfortunate and regrettable,” the statement said. “Whereas the highest authorities of Sierra Leone, another sister country that received the same timely gesture of African solidarity by President Yahya Jammeh, have acknowledged receipt of the funds with gratitude, the Guinean government is yet to do so.”
The Ebola outbreak ravaging Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has claimed 6,070 lives, according to the latest WHO update, with health authorities in Conakry having registered more than 1,300 of them. (Reuters)