U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tried calling Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss the imprisoned nephew of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng but Wang was not available, the State Department said on Friday.
Wang was said to be in Singapore on Friday for meetings with senior officials there. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters Kerry had tried to call Wang Thursday and would follow up.
Asked if he thought it odd that Wang was not available to speak to Washington's top diplomat, Ventrell suggested there was nothing unusual in Kerry's failure to connect with Wang.
"Sometimes it's time differences or travel," Ventrell said. "Sometimes it takes us a little while to connect with a foreign minister."
Kerry wants to discuss the case of Chen Kegui, who the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch said had been diagnosed with appendicitis and "urgently needs effective medical care." The group said to its knowledge, Chen had not been offered surgery for the condition.
Chen was sentenced to more than three years in jail in November after a trial the United States described as "deeply flawed" and that rights activists suspect was in retaliation for his blind uncle's escape from house arrest.
Chen was charged after using knives to fend off local officials who burst into his home on April 27, 2012, the day after they discovered his uncle had escaped from 19 months of harsh house arrest in eastern Shandong province and fled to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Chen Guangcheng's decision to take refuge in the U.S. Embassy was deeply embarrassing for China and led to a diplomatic tussle between the two nations before China allowed him to fly to the United States with his wife and child.
Ventrell said on Thursday that Washington was concerned about reports Chen Kegui had been mistreated in prison.
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Retired racehorse finds calling as abstract painter
The horse is an American icon. It races gracefully, performs heavy farm tasks, can do tricks and, if television is to be believed, may even talk. But only one is an accomplished painter.
Metro Meteor, a 10-year-old thoroughbred bay in rural Maryland, is enjoying singular success. Within just months of applying his first brush stroke to paper, he is juggling requests for public appearances, weighing endorsement offers and earning thousands of dollars for his work.
Slowed by bad knees, the racehorse was retired in 2009 and adopted by Ron and Wendy Krajewski. Unable to ride the crippled horse, Ron, a local artist, decided to teach the horse to paint in order to spend more time with him.
Elephants are known to paint with their trunks, he reasoned, and Metro did tend to bob his head a lot while in his stall.
The paintings caught on, and success ensued. Metro is now the best-selling artist at Gallery 30, a small shop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which started selling his work four months ago.
Metro's paintings feature colorful, sweeping brushstrokes, complete with specks of sawdust - not surprising as the horse paints by swinging his head, a paintbrush clenched in his teeth.
"For his large paintings, there is a waiting list of 120," said Ron Krajewski in an interview this week.
The larger acrylics, 20 inches by 20 inches (51 x 51 cms), sell for $850 at the gallery, he said, and smaller cut-down versions, 5 inches by 7 inches (12.7 x 17.8 cms), are $80.
One of Metro's large paintings sold on eBay for more than $2,000, and bidding for another one on Friday was hovering at $800 with only a few hours to go.
In total, about 40 large and 150 small works have sold, adding up to more than $20,000, Krajewski said.
As the owners say on Metro's website: "Art scholars are not going to have long lengthy discussions trying to decipher the hidden meaning to Metro's paintings. He is a horse.
"It is what it is. A painting you can hang on your wall and tell all your friends it was painted by a horse," they said.
Typically, horse and owner paint for an hour or two, maybe four times a week, Ron Krajewski said, adding that Metro never seems to get bored with the task.
Metro lives at Motter's Station Stables, near Rocky Ridge, a small town in the rolling hills of northern Maryland. An indoor arena doubles as his studio.
One morning this week, the horse demonstrated his technique - interpreted by Wendy Krajewski - to a visitor.
"He'll roll ... he likes to roll," she said, and within minutes, the horse knelt, lay on his side and began to roll on his back.
Then he got to his feet, walked over to his easel and array of paints and wrapped his muzzle around a paintbrush. Friendly and laid-back, he scarcely fit the stereotype of a high-strung thoroughbred.
A former turf sprinter, considered among the fastest at Saratoga and Belmont Park, Metro won about $300,000 during his racing career, his owners said.
When his knees deteriorated, forcing him off the track, the Krajewskis, who owned a percentage of the horse, adopted Metro with plans to use him for casual trail riding. They also own a quarterhorse and another adopted thoroughbred.
The horse was able to take short trail rides, but eventually his weak knees left him unable to support the weight of a rider, they said.
The Krajewskis donate half of Metro's earnings to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, a charity that seeks homes and rehabilitation for retired racehorses. The owner of Gallery 30 donates a portion of Metro's profits to a local animal shelter.
"We use the rest to pay for his medical bills," Ron Krajewski said. "The special treatment for his knees is very expensive."
Metro suffers from arthritis, cartilitis or frozen joints, and rapid bone growth, among other health issues.
At first, his prognosis was bleak and if he continued to deteriorate, he could die within two or three years, his owners said.
But recent X-rays showed that an experimental bone remodeling treatment had improved one knee, they said, and treatment on another knee will begin this month.
Metro's popularity has gone national. He has appeared on network television and has received endorsement offers, his owners said.
The volume of business offers prompted the Krajewskis to retain an intellectual property attorney.
Their horse, they noted, is oblivious to earnings and acclaim. As long as he has fresh water and hay, some treats and a pasture where he can nibble grass, run and roll in the dirt, Metro is happy, they said.
Metro Meteor, a 10-year-old thoroughbred bay in rural Maryland, is enjoying singular success. Within just months of applying his first brush stroke to paper, he is juggling requests for public appearances, weighing endorsement offers and earning thousands of dollars for his work.
Slowed by bad knees, the racehorse was retired in 2009 and adopted by Ron and Wendy Krajewski. Unable to ride the crippled horse, Ron, a local artist, decided to teach the horse to paint in order to spend more time with him.
Elephants are known to paint with their trunks, he reasoned, and Metro did tend to bob his head a lot while in his stall.
The paintings caught on, and success ensued. Metro is now the best-selling artist at Gallery 30, a small shop in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which started selling his work four months ago.
Metro's paintings feature colorful, sweeping brushstrokes, complete with specks of sawdust - not surprising as the horse paints by swinging his head, a paintbrush clenched in his teeth.
"For his large paintings, there is a waiting list of 120," said Ron Krajewski in an interview this week.
The larger acrylics, 20 inches by 20 inches (51 x 51 cms), sell for $850 at the gallery, he said, and smaller cut-down versions, 5 inches by 7 inches (12.7 x 17.8 cms), are $80.
One of Metro's large paintings sold on eBay for more than $2,000, and bidding for another one on Friday was hovering at $800 with only a few hours to go.
In total, about 40 large and 150 small works have sold, adding up to more than $20,000, Krajewski said.
As the owners say on Metro's website: "Art scholars are not going to have long lengthy discussions trying to decipher the hidden meaning to Metro's paintings. He is a horse.
"It is what it is. A painting you can hang on your wall and tell all your friends it was painted by a horse," they said.
Typically, horse and owner paint for an hour or two, maybe four times a week, Ron Krajewski said, adding that Metro never seems to get bored with the task.
Metro lives at Motter's Station Stables, near Rocky Ridge, a small town in the rolling hills of northern Maryland. An indoor arena doubles as his studio.
One morning this week, the horse demonstrated his technique - interpreted by Wendy Krajewski - to a visitor.
"He'll roll ... he likes to roll," she said, and within minutes, the horse knelt, lay on his side and began to roll on his back.
Then he got to his feet, walked over to his easel and array of paints and wrapped his muzzle around a paintbrush. Friendly and laid-back, he scarcely fit the stereotype of a high-strung thoroughbred.
A former turf sprinter, considered among the fastest at Saratoga and Belmont Park, Metro won about $300,000 during his racing career, his owners said.
When his knees deteriorated, forcing him off the track, the Krajewskis, who owned a percentage of the horse, adopted Metro with plans to use him for casual trail riding. They also own a quarterhorse and another adopted thoroughbred.
The horse was able to take short trail rides, but eventually his weak knees left him unable to support the weight of a rider, they said.
The Krajewskis donate half of Metro's earnings to New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program, a charity that seeks homes and rehabilitation for retired racehorses. The owner of Gallery 30 donates a portion of Metro's profits to a local animal shelter.
"We use the rest to pay for his medical bills," Ron Krajewski said. "The special treatment for his knees is very expensive."
Metro suffers from arthritis, cartilitis or frozen joints, and rapid bone growth, among other health issues.
At first, his prognosis was bleak and if he continued to deteriorate, he could die within two or three years, his owners said.
But recent X-rays showed that an experimental bone remodeling treatment had improved one knee, they said, and treatment on another knee will begin this month.
Metro's popularity has gone national. He has appeared on network television and has received endorsement offers, his owners said.
The volume of business offers prompted the Krajewskis to retain an intellectual property attorney.
Their horse, they noted, is oblivious to earnings and acclaim. As long as he has fresh water and hay, some treats and a pasture where he can nibble grass, run and roll in the dirt, Metro is happy, they said.
Secular Turks see red over airline's lipstick ban
Turkey's national airline has barred female flight attendants from wearing red lipstick and nail polish, striking a nerve among secular Turks worried the country is becoming more Islamic.
Turkish Airlines, Europe's fourth-biggest carrier, said the ban was aimed at keeping crews "artless and well-groomed with makeup in pastel tones", as a natural look improved communication with passengers.
"As a consequence of our current cabin uniforms not including red, dark pink, et cetera, the use of lipstick and nail polish in these colors by our cabin crew impairs visual integrity," the statement said.
Turkish Airlines declined a request for further comment.
The guideline follows other restrictions on employees' appearance and on serving alcohol. Critics say they reflect the influence of the government's conservative religious values at the fast-growing state-run airline, one of Turkey's most recognized brands.
"This new guideline is totally down to Turkish Airlines management's desire to shape the company to fit its own political and ideological stance," Atilay Aycin, president of the airline's Hava-Is labor union, told Reuters.
"No one can deny that Turkey has become a more conservative, religious country."
Turkey is 99 percent Muslim but the NATO state and European Union candidate has a secular constitution.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, which traces its roots to a banned Islamic party, has relaxed the state's control over the expression of religion, such as once-strict limits imposed on wearing the Islamic-style headscarf.
Such restrictions were aimed at reining in Islamism and improving women's rights, but effectively prevented many devout women from studying at university or taking government jobs.
Turkish Airlines scrapped its own ban on the headscarf more than a year ago, and covered women now work at check-in counters and at other positions in the company, Aycin said.
Other Turkish carriers also have guidelines on the appearance of cabin personnel.
HIDDEN AGENDA?
The flag carrier caused a stir earlier this year when newspapers published mockups of a new Ottoman-style uniform for stewardesses with ankle-length dresses, a proposal the airline's management appears to have since abandoned.
That was followed by a ban on alcohol on planes flying to most domestic destinations and some Islamic countries.
"They are objecting to the lipstick and nail polish that we have been using for years," said Asli Gokmen, 30, a flight attendant who lost her job with more than 300 others last year during a union protest and is petitioning for her position back.
No current employees were available for comment.
Turks worried the government is undermining the country's secular order see a hidden agenda.
On Twitter, women posted pictures after applying red lipstick. One wrote: "Why not just ban stewardesses altogether so we can all breathe a sigh of relief?"
Some male Twitter users were indignant over the insinuation that red lipstick would induce a sexual frenzy.
Turkish Airlines passenger Ahmet Yerli, 33, said he did not think the new guideline was a sign of creeping Islamization but that the ban was still "absurd."
"I've never heard of a plane crashing because of a women's lipstick," he said before his flight.
Turkish Airlines, Europe's fourth-biggest carrier, said the ban was aimed at keeping crews "artless and well-groomed with makeup in pastel tones", as a natural look improved communication with passengers.
"As a consequence of our current cabin uniforms not including red, dark pink, et cetera, the use of lipstick and nail polish in these colors by our cabin crew impairs visual integrity," the statement said.
Turkish Airlines declined a request for further comment.
The guideline follows other restrictions on employees' appearance and on serving alcohol. Critics say they reflect the influence of the government's conservative religious values at the fast-growing state-run airline, one of Turkey's most recognized brands.
"This new guideline is totally down to Turkish Airlines management's desire to shape the company to fit its own political and ideological stance," Atilay Aycin, president of the airline's Hava-Is labor union, told Reuters.
"No one can deny that Turkey has become a more conservative, religious country."
Turkey is 99 percent Muslim but the NATO state and European Union candidate has a secular constitution.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party, which traces its roots to a banned Islamic party, has relaxed the state's control over the expression of religion, such as once-strict limits imposed on wearing the Islamic-style headscarf.
Such restrictions were aimed at reining in Islamism and improving women's rights, but effectively prevented many devout women from studying at university or taking government jobs.
Turkish Airlines scrapped its own ban on the headscarf more than a year ago, and covered women now work at check-in counters and at other positions in the company, Aycin said.
Other Turkish carriers also have guidelines on the appearance of cabin personnel.
HIDDEN AGENDA?
The flag carrier caused a stir earlier this year when newspapers published mockups of a new Ottoman-style uniform for stewardesses with ankle-length dresses, a proposal the airline's management appears to have since abandoned.
That was followed by a ban on alcohol on planes flying to most domestic destinations and some Islamic countries.
"They are objecting to the lipstick and nail polish that we have been using for years," said Asli Gokmen, 30, a flight attendant who lost her job with more than 300 others last year during a union protest and is petitioning for her position back.
No current employees were available for comment.
Turks worried the government is undermining the country's secular order see a hidden agenda.
On Twitter, women posted pictures after applying red lipstick. One wrote: "Why not just ban stewardesses altogether so we can all breathe a sigh of relief?"
Some male Twitter users were indignant over the insinuation that red lipstick would induce a sexual frenzy.
Turkish Airlines passenger Ahmet Yerli, 33, said he did not think the new guideline was a sign of creeping Islamization but that the ban was still "absurd."
"I've never heard of a plane crashing because of a women's lipstick," he said before his flight.
Wind farms to lure back German lobsters decimated by WW2
New wind farms off Germany's North Sea coast will provide an ideal habitat that could help restore the lobster population near Heligoland after British bombing during and after World War II drove them away.
Biologists at the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research are breeding 3,000 lobsters to be released next year into the Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm near the island 70 km off the German-Dutch coast.
The 1.5 square km island had a thriving fishing industry before it became a Nazi fortress in the war, pounded by Allied bombs, and then later used for target practice. It is now a tourist resort.
Billions of euros of investment in wind turbines as part of Germany's ambitious transition to renewable energy has given the scheme impetus. Lobsters, whose local population is 90 percent smaller than it was 70 years ago, need a firm seabed to thrive.
"The new wind parks mean lobsters may settle in a new habitat, because the stony foundations offer a favorable environment," project leader Heinz-Dieter Franke said.
The 700,000 euro ($923,500) scheme is funded by compensation paid to the state of Lower Saxony by utility EWE for any potential ecological damage caused by the construction of its wind park. The money will fund breeding, reintroduction and monitoring of the lobsters for roughly two years.
"With Germany's shift to renewables, we could have 5,000 wind farms by 2030, so if it works, this kind of project could have a huge effect on the lobster population," Franke said.
He estimated that wind farms could help increase the lobster population to as many as 300,000 lobsters in the area around Heligoland in the long run from 50,000 to 100,000 now.
EXPLOSIONS
Scandinavian and Mediterranean lobster stocks have collapsed in the past few decades from a combination of environmental factors.
But some scientists cite British explosives as one reason for the decimation of the lobster population around Heligoland.
In one of the biggest bombing runs on Heligoland during the war, the Allied air force destroyed almost every building on the island, raining down 7,000 bombs in a two-hour raid on April 18, 1945.
For five years after the war, Britain used Heligoland for target practice, and in 1947 it set off some 7,000 metric tons worth of explosives to blow up U-boat pens in one of the biggest non-nuclear detonations on record.
Britain released the crater-scarred island for resettlement in 1952, but scientists say that was too late for the lobsters.
The toxins from the bombs may have hurt the crustaceans' sense of smell, which is essential in finding a sexual partner and so damaged their ability to reproduce, Franke said.
Lobster expert Dominic Boothroyd, general manager of Britain's National Lobster Hatchery, said the idea of using the hard foundations of a wind park made sense and that projects to reintroduce young lobsters had taken place in Britain and Norway, though not on wind farms.
"(From these projects), we know the animals survive and that they contribute to fishery and reproduce. We have also got a lot of interesting biological information," Boothroyd said.
($1 = 0.7580 euros)
Biologists at the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research are breeding 3,000 lobsters to be released next year into the Borkum Riffgat offshore wind farm near the island 70 km off the German-Dutch coast.
The 1.5 square km island had a thriving fishing industry before it became a Nazi fortress in the war, pounded by Allied bombs, and then later used for target practice. It is now a tourist resort.
Billions of euros of investment in wind turbines as part of Germany's ambitious transition to renewable energy has given the scheme impetus. Lobsters, whose local population is 90 percent smaller than it was 70 years ago, need a firm seabed to thrive.
"The new wind parks mean lobsters may settle in a new habitat, because the stony foundations offer a favorable environment," project leader Heinz-Dieter Franke said.
The 700,000 euro ($923,500) scheme is funded by compensation paid to the state of Lower Saxony by utility EWE for any potential ecological damage caused by the construction of its wind park. The money will fund breeding, reintroduction and monitoring of the lobsters for roughly two years.
"With Germany's shift to renewables, we could have 5,000 wind farms by 2030, so if it works, this kind of project could have a huge effect on the lobster population," Franke said.
He estimated that wind farms could help increase the lobster population to as many as 300,000 lobsters in the area around Heligoland in the long run from 50,000 to 100,000 now.
EXPLOSIONS
Scandinavian and Mediterranean lobster stocks have collapsed in the past few decades from a combination of environmental factors.
But some scientists cite British explosives as one reason for the decimation of the lobster population around Heligoland.
In one of the biggest bombing runs on Heligoland during the war, the Allied air force destroyed almost every building on the island, raining down 7,000 bombs in a two-hour raid on April 18, 1945.
For five years after the war, Britain used Heligoland for target practice, and in 1947 it set off some 7,000 metric tons worth of explosives to blow up U-boat pens in one of the biggest non-nuclear detonations on record.
Britain released the crater-scarred island for resettlement in 1952, but scientists say that was too late for the lobsters.
The toxins from the bombs may have hurt the crustaceans' sense of smell, which is essential in finding a sexual partner and so damaged their ability to reproduce, Franke said.
Lobster expert Dominic Boothroyd, general manager of Britain's National Lobster Hatchery, said the idea of using the hard foundations of a wind park made sense and that projects to reintroduce young lobsters had taken place in Britain and Norway, though not on wind farms.
"(From these projects), we know the animals survive and that they contribute to fishery and reproduce. We have also got a lot of interesting biological information," Boothroyd said.
($1 = 0.7580 euros)
Bono's one-time Sydney holiday home sells for record $55.4 million
A Sydney harborfront mansion has been sold for a record-setting A$54 million ($55.4 million) to a Chinese-born businessman, reinforcing the city's growing status as a hot property destination, newspapers said on Thursday.
On the market for six years, the luxurious eight-bedroom "Altona" in exclusive Point Piper was bought in a secret deal with the businessman who currently lives in Melbourne, the newspapers reported.
The property and its heated waterside pool and boathouse, rented by U2 rock star Bono in 2006 for a family holiday, was last sold in 2002 for A$28 million.
While Australian capital city home prices rose by only 1.3 percent in March, top end Sydney properties have attracted strong interest from Chinese buyers, and almost three in four international sales have gone to Asian buyers in recent years.
The Altona sale beat the previous Sydney property sale record of A$45 million, but fell short of the national record of A$57.5 million paid in 2009 by mining services magnate Chris Ellison for a sprawling riverfront home in Perth.
On the market for six years, the luxurious eight-bedroom "Altona" in exclusive Point Piper was bought in a secret deal with the businessman who currently lives in Melbourne, the newspapers reported.
The property and its heated waterside pool and boathouse, rented by U2 rock star Bono in 2006 for a family holiday, was last sold in 2002 for A$28 million.
While Australian capital city home prices rose by only 1.3 percent in March, top end Sydney properties have attracted strong interest from Chinese buyers, and almost three in four international sales have gone to Asian buyers in recent years.
The Altona sale beat the previous Sydney property sale record of A$45 million, but fell short of the national record of A$57.5 million paid in 2009 by mining services magnate Chris Ellison for a sprawling riverfront home in Perth.
Native American tribe plans to dub 'Star Wars' in Navajo
The largest Native American tribe in the United States is seeking to dub the classic 1977 movie "Star Wars" movie in Navajo as a way to help preserve its traditional language.
Fluent Navajo speakers have been invited for a casting call in Window Rock in northern Arizona on Friday and Saturday to dub the roles of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and others, tribal officials said.
Manuelito Wheeler, the director of the Navajo Nation Museum, said he first came up with the idea 13 years ago as a way to preserve the consonant-rich Navajo language, believed to be spoken by about 170,000 people, according to government figures.
"We thought this would be a provocative and effective way to help try to preserve the language and at the same time preserve the culture," Wheeler told Reuters. "What better movie to do this than 'Star Wars?'"
Wheeler said he believes the popular science fiction movie will resonate with the Navajo people with its universal theme of good versus evil.
The project was given the go-ahead about 18 months ago.
A team of five Navajos then spent 36 hours translating the original script, hampered by the many words in English that do not translate word for word into Navajo. Instead, several words in Navajo are sometimes needed to convey the proper meaning.
For example, he said there is no direct translation for "May the force be with you," one of the most recognizable lines in the movie.
Wheeler declined to reveal the Navajo words used for that and other catch-phrases, as a way to "build momentum" leading up to the movie.
"What we want to avoid is like the Kung Fu movies of the past where the lips didn't match up with the words they were speaking," he said.
Casting for the voices of the movie's major roles will be held at the museum in Window Rock. About 75 people have registered to audition.
The finished movie, which will include English subtitles, will be shown during the tribe's Fourth of July celebration in Window Rock and again in September at the Navajo Nation Fair.
Fluent Navajo speakers have been invited for a casting call in Window Rock in northern Arizona on Friday and Saturday to dub the roles of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and others, tribal officials said.
Manuelito Wheeler, the director of the Navajo Nation Museum, said he first came up with the idea 13 years ago as a way to preserve the consonant-rich Navajo language, believed to be spoken by about 170,000 people, according to government figures.
"We thought this would be a provocative and effective way to help try to preserve the language and at the same time preserve the culture," Wheeler told Reuters. "What better movie to do this than 'Star Wars?'"
Wheeler said he believes the popular science fiction movie will resonate with the Navajo people with its universal theme of good versus evil.
The project was given the go-ahead about 18 months ago.
A team of five Navajos then spent 36 hours translating the original script, hampered by the many words in English that do not translate word for word into Navajo. Instead, several words in Navajo are sometimes needed to convey the proper meaning.
For example, he said there is no direct translation for "May the force be with you," one of the most recognizable lines in the movie.
Wheeler declined to reveal the Navajo words used for that and other catch-phrases, as a way to "build momentum" leading up to the movie.
"What we want to avoid is like the Kung Fu movies of the past where the lips didn't match up with the words they were speaking," he said.
Casting for the voices of the movie's major roles will be held at the museum in Window Rock. About 75 people have registered to audition.
The finished movie, which will include English subtitles, will be shown during the tribe's Fourth of July celebration in Window Rock and again in September at the Navajo Nation Fair.
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