Nascuta intr-o familie cu adanci radacini muzicale, soprana Mioara Cortez revine in orasul natal cu ocazia Iasi Educational Trade Show - IETS.
Aceasta va interpreta arii cunoscute din repertoriul international in cadrul Spectacolului de Gala „Clasic 300" alaturi de artistii Filarmonicii de Stat „Moldova" din Iasi si de nume de referinta ale muzicii clasice internationale.
Cat de des reveniti in Iasul natal?
Eu vin in fiecare an pentru ca am familia aici si imi face placere sa ma intalnesc cu surorile mele. Am tot asteptat sa fiu invitata sa vin sa cant. Dar la cat de mult iubesc Iasul si la cat de mult cunosc acest public cald si bun nu trebuia sa revin decat intr-un super-concert. Asa mi se pare normal. Astept cu mare placere sa ma intalnesc cu Filarmonica din Iasi, cu dirijorul Sabin Pautza, caruia i-am cantat multe compozitii cu mare dragoste. Erau compuse absolut superb. Va fi un concert de mare amploare.
Credeti ca un astfel de concert ar putea anima Iasul?
Iasul este acelasi oras istoric, muzical, cultural din toate punctele de vedere. Oamenii il fac necultural. Eu iubesc acest oras cum nu va puteti imagina. I-am dus prestigiul in toata lumea. Intotdeauna unde am cantat am vorbit despre Iasi, despre Opera, despre Filarmonica. Pentru ca Iasul sa creasca ar trebui in primul rand invitati oameni de valoare care sa faca muzica. Dar pentru asta trebuie bani, trebuie sustinere. Si in scoli ar trebui reintrodusa muzica. Ar trebui de la gradinita sa pui copilul sa asculte, sa invete muzica, sa-l duci la concert, la Opera. Educatia porneste de mic. Eu m-am nascut intr-o familie de muzicieni si de aceea m-am lipit si eu si surorile mele de muzica. Tin minte ca fugeam de la scoala ca sa merg la Filarmonica sau la Opera. Dar multi copii nu provin din familii de muzicieni. Si daca adultul nu se duce la Opera sau la Filarmonica, nici copilului n-o sa-i inoculeze dragostea pentru acest tip de muzica.
Aveti o arie preferata?
Toate ariile le cant cu mare placere. Nu am o arie preferata, pentu ca pe toate le trec prin filtrul sufletului meu. Atat de mult ma confund cu personajul, cu rolul din opera respectiva incat publicul simte acest lucru si ma iubeste.
V-ati gandit vreodata sa va intoarceti definitiv in tara?
Da, bineinteles. Eu si sotul meu am plecat pentru ca el are toate rudele in Canada unde ne-am stabilit. E greu sa te acomodezi intr-un loc strain, dar acolo totul era pregatit pentru noi. Concertele sunt diferite acolo. Muzica de opera nu este foarte gustata. Abia dupa ce cantam lumea reactiona.
Descrieti in cateva cuvinte esenta Iasului cultural.
Un oras atat de frumos ca Iasul, care are universitati de toate felurile, are Filarmonica, Teatru, Opera, Teatru de Copii, muzee are o radacina extraordinara care dainuie de atata timp. Nu poti trai fara trecut. De aici pornesti. Iasul este unul dintre putinele orase ale Romaniei care se bucura de toate acestea conglomerate, si chiar din lume. De fiecare data cand ma intorc descopar un alt Iasi, mai frumos, mai bine pus la punct.
Soprana Mioara Cortez este unul dintre cei trei invitati de marca ai Spectacolului Clasic 300 ce va avea loc pe data de 2 iunie. Aceasta va urca pe scena alaturi de dirijorul de renume international Sabin Pautza si de violonistul Gabriel Croitoru, cel caruia Statul Roman i-a incredintat celebra vioara Guarneri - „Cathedral", cea pe care a cantat si maestrul George Enescu. Aproape 2.000 de spectatori, personalitati ale vietii culturale, academice, reprezentanti ai mediului de afaceri si ai administratiei locale se vor bucura de acordurile ariilor celebre din muzica lumii intr-un ambient unic in spatiul cultural iesean si national. Explanada Universitatii de Medicina si Farmacie „Gr. T. Popa" se va transforma pentru o seara intr-o mare sala de spectacole in aer liber.
Spectacolul este organizat in cadrul Iasi Educational Trade Show - IETS, evenimentul Iasului in educatie, sub a carui egida, timp de trei zile se vor desfasura expozitii de Carte, de Oferte in Educatie, de Tehnologii educationale, un Targ de Joburi si Marsul Absolventilor.
Pretul biletelor la Spectacolul de Gala „Clasic 300" este cuprins intre 50 si 70 de lei, acestea putand fi achizitionate online de pe site-ul www.iets.ro/bilete, de la librariile Carturesti, agentia Filarmonicii, cafeneaua Maideyi, libraria Avant-Garde si de la Galeriile Anticariat Grumazescu.
The rights organisation has carried out more than 200 interviews since the beginning of anti-government demonstrations in the country in March last year. Accounts from former detainees and defectors have identified the locations, agencies responsible, torture methods used and, in many cases, the commanders in charge of 27 detention facilities run by Syrian intelligence agencies.
Human Rights Watch said the systematic patterns of ill-treatment and torture it had documented clearly pointed to a "state policy of torture and ill-treatment", which constituted "a crime against humanity".
Mr Hague said the UK would work with EU partners to impose sanctions on those responsible to help bring an end to the violence.
The report, Torture Archipelago: Arbitrary Arrests, Torture and Enforced Disappearances in Syria's Underground Prisons since March 2011, includes maps locating detention centres, video accounts from former detainees and sketches of torture techniques described by people who witnessed or experienced torture in the facilities.
Interrogators, guards, and officers used a broad range of torture methods, including prolonged beatings, often with objects such as batons and cables, holding the detainees in painful stress positions for prolonged periods of time, the use of electricity, burning with acid, sexual assault and humiliation, the pulling of fingernails, and mock execution.
Human Rights Watch documented more than 20 distinct torture methods used by the security and intelligence services. While most of the torture victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch were young men between 18 and 35, the victims interviewed also included children, women, and the elderly.
Human Rights Watch called on the United Nations Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to adopt targeted sanctions against officials credibly implicated in the abuses.
Commenting on the report, Mr Hague said: "This Human Rights Watch report should act as a clear warning. There should be no impunity or hiding place for those committing these crimes. Those responsible for systematic and widespread human rights violations should not delude themselves: we and our international partners will do everything we can to ensure that they will face justice.
"Where we have evidence of individuals' responsibility for acts of violence and repression, the UK will work with EU partners to impose sanctions on them. We will continue to focus attention on what is happening in Syria and work to bring an end to the violence."
Uganda’s Catholic bishops are calling for the revival of the notorious ‘kill the gays’ bill, despite previously opposing it.
The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which calls for the execution of gays in the African country, was effectively shelved last year by the government, following sustained pressure from international donor countries.
Photo by Scott Nunn
Despite repeated claims to the contrary, including some unfortunate mainstream reporting, the last version of the bill contained the death penalty in some circumstances.
The Catholic Church had previously been the sole major religion in Uganda in opposition to the bill.
But according to the Daily Monitor, at the annual conference of the Uganda Joint Christian Council (UJCC), an ecumenical body which brings together the Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox churches, the bishops resolved that it should be brought back from the brink.
The UJCC said that the bill was needed to prevent what they called ‘an attack on the Bible and the institution of marriage’.
The Vatican came out strongly and publicly against the bill and, Wikileaks revealed, even lobbied against it.
Uganda watchers say that the change by the Ugandan Catholic church is ‘very serious’ and that the UJCC resolution was pushed by an Anglican bishop.
Another concern is that, according to the East African, Ugandan President Yowari Museveni is backing his wife, Janet, to take over from him in 2016.
She has close ties to American evangelical dominionist Christian groups and is widely believed to be a force behind the bill.
LGBT activists in Uganda say that despite some setbacks they are slowly increasing visibility and support.
In March, a group managed to join a march against sexual violence with their banner without incident in the capital, Kampala.
Award-winning activist Frank Mugisha, of Sexual Minorities Uganda, said: ‘We see a shift in public opinion and I guess it’s because many Ugandans are talking about homosexuality a lot.
‘There are some local leaders who are now willing to meet and talk to us.
‘The only problem we have is the belief people have that we are promoting homosexuality and recruiting children.’
Mugisha’s group has filed suit in a US court in the first known Alien Tort Statute case seeking accountability for persecution on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Wearing a pale pink headscarf and a long floral skirt, she meets me at the train station in Basel so we can take the tram to her home. She’s warm and chatty, and soon whips out her gold-tone iPhone to show off photos of her three children.
Originally from Sudan, Amal Bürgin has lived in Switzerland for many years. She and her Swiss husband have two sons and a daughter, aged between four and 11. The fact that she managed to conceive and deliver three children is almost remarkable considering the brutal tradition she herself endured as a child.
When Bürgin was five years old, she and her older sister found themselves at the centre of a genital cutting ceremony in their native Khartoum. In addition to sweets and fancy henna tattoos, they were given the so-called pharaonic circumcision. This involves the removal of the clitoris as well as the labia, and then the fusion of the remaining flesh. Only a small hole is left to pass urine and menstrual blood.
Now 42, Bürgin still suffers from the consequences, as she first told swissinfo.ch in 2008. In the meantime she has confronted her mother and gained experience speaking about her ordeal publicly.
An ugly tradition Although considered a crime according to Swiss law, Bürgin is reluctant to describe female genital mutilation (FGM) as such.
“It’s a very old and a very ugly tradition, but I’m against calling it a crime because people like my parents and their parents did it. It’s been passed down from generation to generation – they thought they were doing the best for their girls,” Bürgin said.
According to her, the tradition is important to them for cultural and religious reasons. The idea is that the daughters will stay physically “clean” and that they won’t think about sex before marriage.
In fact, Bürgin’s father was against the procedure, but he wasn’t home on the day that it happened.
“When he came back and realised what had been done, he was very angry. I think that being married to my mother, he knew how it would be for us. And I think that’s why he never wanted it done to his two daughters,” Bürgin said.
Despite his opposition, Bürgin and her sister suffered a double-dose of FGM.
“When I was eight or nine they did it again. My two aunts in Khartoum said it wasn’t a ‘good enough’ job the first time – that I was still ‘too open’. So they brought me and my sister to a famous midwife to have it redone,” Bürgin said. At the very least, both procedures were carried out hygienically and under anaesthesia.
Afterwards, any time Bürgin cried from the pain of relieving herself or having her period, her father would get angry and tell her female relatives: “This is all from what you did to her.”
Husband was shocked As a young woman, Bürgin moved to Switzerland, where she met her husband. She was still a virgin when she married him at 28 – something he found hard to believe. Although he had converted to Islam as an adult, he was completely unaware that FGM was common in some Muslim communities.
“My husband was shocked when he found out on our wedding night. He didn’t know anything about this subject, and really, he couldn’t have sex with me,” Bürgin said. She agreed immediately when he suggested that they see a doctor.
“The doctor was also very shocked, and that surprised me in a negative way,” Bürgin recalled, having expected a gynaecologist to at least be aware of FGM. “I had an operation to open me and all of those memories came back,” Bürgin said. It took her about a month of bed rest to recover from the surgery: “It was very painful, but I’m glad I did it.”
While any loving husband would surely take his wife to the clinic rather than forcing sex on her, this is not a solution, says Bürgin: “The solution should be that men say they don’t want women who have had FGM.”
Although some men insist that FGM is women’s business, others campaign actively against it.
“I recently found a group on Facebook, even. I was surprised and I liked it,” Bürgin said. Meanwhile, her brother has three daughters – and he and his wife have decided not to have them circumcised. Bürgin’s sister is also against the procedure.
After attending a Unicef Switzerland event on the topic in 2007, Bürgin decided to speak out to help eradicate FGM worldwide. More recently, she gave a talk at Basel University; her eyes shine as she remembers the applause she received afterwards.
Back in Sudan, her sister has spread the word about Bürgin’s activism.
“I know that all of my old friends are educated and against FGM. Of course, they had it themselves, but they are against it and I’m sure that they won’t have it done to their daughters,” Bürgin said.
How God made her She can now talk to strangers about it, but for decades, Bürgin didn’t dare broach the subject with her mother.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t discuss it earlier because it was taboo, but now it’s becoming more acceptable,” she said, adding that she could never understand why circumcision was treated like a “lovely, happy occasion” where she grew up.
It was not until a couple of years ago that she finally had the chance to discuss the topic with her mother, who visited her in Basel.
While Bürgin was changing her daughter’s diaper, her mother remarked: “Oh, will you leave her like that or will you do it for her?”
Bürgin answered: “No – never,” and took a deep breath. “OK, mother, you brought up this theme so now I’d like to ask you: Why did you do this to us? Do you remember how I cried from the pain?”
Bürgin’s mother replied that it was a tradition and from Islam, to which Bürgin countered that there was nothing in Islam stating that girls should be genitally mutilated.
“My mother said, ‘So you won’t do it?’ and I said ‘No’. And after that she didn’t say anything,” Bürgin said.
Her daughter is now four years old, and Bürgin is very aware of how different their bodies are.
“I see now the difference between me and my daughter. I would never say mine looks nice or beautiful – no, it looks terrible. But how my daughter looks is how God made her.”
The Ministry of Defense has put the contracts for 30,000 modern assault rifles out to tender to major arms producers around the world to supply the “civilian police” with the state-of-the-art weaponry by 2014 under the pretext of fighting terrorists and criminal gangs.
Media reports said the police chiefs are already considering arming their officers with the Canadian-made C8 SFW carbine, the same assault rifle the Special Air Service uses in its high-profile operations.
Some of the features the police want to ensure the new rifles have are being adaptable to use of grenade launchers, silencers and different sights.
There are fears that bringing the battlefield weapons to the streets of London and other cities across Britain could be a prelude to even deeper suppression of protest movements after tackling of demonstrations over the past two years sparked condemnations from human rights groups.
Banca Nationala a României (BNR) a înregistrat anul trecut un profit de circa 71,7 milioane de euro, cu 79% mai redus decât în 2010, potrivit raportului anual pentru 2011.
"Profitul înregistrat de banca centrala în anul 2011 a fost generat, în principal, de operatiunile de administrare a activelor si pasivelor în valuta, în contextul unui management performant al acestora, care a permis obtinerea unor randamente pozitive", se arata în raportul facut public luni.
În 2010, BNR a înregistrat un profit de circa 339,1 milioane de euro.
Roche è stata condannata da un tribunale americano a versare 18 milioni di dollari di risarcimento danni a due pazienti che avevano utilizzato l'Accutane. La giuria dello stato del New Jersey a ritenuto il gruppo farmaceutico colpevole di non aver sufficiente messo in guardia dai rischi.
I due pazienti avevano assunto il trattamento contro l'acne di Roche negli anni '90 e riportato un'infiammazione all'intestino, ha precisato il loro rappresentate legale, lo studio Seeger Weiss. La denuncia collettiva riguardava in tutto quattro persone; due casi sono tuttavia stati respinti dal tribunale.
In Europa il medicinale incriminato è commercializzato con il nome di Roaccutan. Lanciato sul mercato nel 1982, è accusato di aver gravi effetti secondari, in particolare psichici quali attacchi di panico, anoressia o pulsioni suicide. In Svizzera finora sono stati segnalati sei casi di suicidio.
The conference, being held in New York from July 2-27, will include all major producers, exporters and importers of conventional arms.
It is hoped the resulting treaty would make the international arms trade more responsible, help alleviate human suffering and curb the illicit trade in arms and weapons.
Crucial for the outcome of the negotiations will be the positions of countries such as the United States, Russia and China, all of whom have reservations about certain aspects.
Diplomats and non-governmental organisations are hoping for a robust treaty, even if not all states end up signing it.
In this regard they are referring to the impact of the treaty on banning anti-personnel mines. Even though big producer countries have not adhered to the Ottawa treaty, production and use of these mines are becoming less frequent since the adoption of the convention.
No globally binding rules While the world trade in many goods such as exotic woods, dinosaur bones or bananas is covered by binding regulations, no such rules exist with regards to the international trade in conventional arms.
“Many people are just shocked when they hear this,” Jeff Abramson, director of the Control Arms campaign told swissinfo.ch.
Control Arms is a global civil society alliance that has been campaigning for an arms trade treaty for years.
Amnesty International, one of the alliance’s founding members, summarises the ramifications of this lack of regulation: every minute somewhere in the world someone dies in a war, from excessive use of weapons violence or because of a crime – more than half a million people a year.
Possible stumbling blocks A few days before the start of the conference, Abramson was taking a cautiously optimistic stand.
“Looking at it under a longer time-frame we’re at a good point now. There’s a lot of energy around,” he said. Sure, a lot of work remains to be done, “but major arms producer countries are on board”.
He pointed out that there were open questions and sceptics among the countries. Among them the United States, which has reservations about the inclusion of ammunition in the accord. Or Russia and China with their reservations regarding human rights protection and how this should have an impact on the approval of arms transfer requests.
The current example of Syria, Abramson said, showed the importance of curbing the irresponsible trade in arms on a global level.
“Now, Russia just points out that there is no United Nations arms embargo against Syria, therefore, their reasoning goes, no rules are broken.”
“Golden Rule” “For us it is essential that the protection of human rights and international humanitarian law stands at the centre of the treaty. We call it the ‘Golden Rule’ with which those rights must be protected,” he said.
This rule must bind all states to analyse whether arms transferred to another state are likely to be used for serious human rights abuses. If that is the case, there can be no approval for a requested transfer.
Some states have expressed reservations about those human rights safeguards.
“It's all about the formulation,” Abramson said. For Control Arms there’s no question: in case of a risk of human rights violations any export approval must be denied and the formulation must therefore include the words “shall not”. China and Russia and most Middle Eastern Countries opt for less stringent wording.
The alliance wants to see a comprehensive treaty that incorporates all kinds of conventional arms and weaponry as well as a system for registering all arms deals and a control mechanism.
If the conference comes to a decision by consensus, with a common denominator that is not too weak, the alliance would consider the accord a “first big step, with further steps to come”, Abramson said.
Small arms and light weapons “Switzerland is among those states with ambitious goals for a strong and efficient treaty. We want an accord that is transparent, non-discriminatory and universal,” Serge Bavaud, expert for security and military questions at Switzerland’s Mission to the United Nations in New York, told swissinfo.ch.
A central aspect of the treaty is the standards to be set for any transnational transfers. The treaty should make reference to the UN Charter and Switzerland wants approval for exporting or transferring arms to be given only if there is no danger that these arms will lead to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law.
The Swiss also want clear and transparent obligations for national implementation of the treaty’s rules in the individual states.
“From our point of view it is very important that the small arms and light weapons are included,” Bavaud said, because those were the weapons harming civilians most often.
“If those weapons are not part of the accord, its values will be strongly limited.”
Author: Rita Emch in New York - Source: swissinfo.ch
In the 18 months since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood has risen swiftly from the cave to the castle. It founded the now-dominant Freedom and Justice Party last April, won a massive plurality in the winter parliamentary elections, and, last week, celebrated as its candidate, Mohamed Morsi, won Egypt's presidential elections. After 84 years of using its nationwide social services networks to build an Islamic state in Egypt from the ground up, the Brotherhood is, for the first time, poised to shape Egyptian society from the top down.
Mursi delivers a speech during a ceremony in which the military handed over power to him. (Courtesy Reuters)
There is, however, a catch: most of the Brotherhood's gains exist in name only. In early June, a court order invalidated the parliamentary elections and dissolved the Brotherhood-dominated parliament. Then, just prior to the second round of the presidential elections, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued a constitutional declaration that seized executive authority from the presidency, ultimately rendering Morsi a mostly powerless figure.
But after weeks of mounting tension with the SCAF, including mass demonstrations against the junta's power grab, the Brotherhood is dialing things down. It fears that agitating for more authority now could foment unrest and alienate a deeply divided public. It is also wary of what happened in Algeria in 1991, when the country's military-backed government responded to the electoral victory of an Islamist party with a harsh crackdown that culminated in civil war. To avoid further violence and cement its place in Egyptian politics, the Brotherhood now hopes to create a period of calm in the short run so that it can act more assertively in the future...
Both tunnels were at least 150 yards long. One, found on Wednesday by the Mexican army, began under a bathroom sink inside a warehouse in Tijuana but was unfinished and did not cross the border into San Diego.
The other was completed and discovered on Saturday in a vacant strip mall storefront in the south-western Arizona city of San Luis.
It showed a level of sophistication not typically associated with other crude smuggling passageways that tie into storm drains in the state.
Douglas Coleman, special agent in charge of the Phoenix division of the Drug Enforcement Administration, said: "When you see what is there and the way they designed it, it wasn't something that your average miner could put together.
"You would need someone with some engineering expertise to put something together like this."
As US authorities heighten enforcement on land, tunnels have become an increasingly common way to smuggle loads of heroin, marijuana and other drugs into the country. More than 70 passages have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years.
A total of 156 secret tunnels have been found along the border since 1990, the vast majority of them incomplete.
Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 tonnes of marijuana on both sides of the border. In early December 2009, authorities found an incomplete tunnel that stretched nearly 900ft into San Diego from Tijuana, equipped with a lift at the Mexican entrance.
The latest Arizona tunnel was discovered after state police pulled over a man who had 39 pounds of methamphetamine in his vehicle and mentioned the strip mall.
The tunnel was found beneath a water tank in a storage room and stretched across the border to an ice-plant business in the Mexican city of San Luis Rio Colorado. It was reinforced with four-by-six beams and lined with plywood.
Investigators believe the tunnel was not in operation for long because there was little wear on its floor, and 55-gallon drums containing extracted dirt had not been removed from the property.
Mr Coleman said investigators cannot yet say for sure if the tunnel, estimated to cost 1.5 million US dollars (£970,000) to build, was operated by the powerful Sinaloa cartel. Authorities suspect cartel involvement because the group from Sinaloa controls smuggling routes into Arizona.
"Another cartel wasn't going to roll into that area and put down that kind of money in Sinaloa territory," Mr Coleman said.
"Nobody is going to construct this tunnel without significant cartel leadership knowing what's going on."
US authorities were investigating the Tijuana tunnel for three months, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Authorities found no connections to the smuggling operation involving the Arizona passageway.
The Tijuana tunnel was discovered inside a building advertised as a recycling plant in an area where industrial warehouses are common on both sides of the border.
The Mexican army said two tractor-trailers were found inside the warehouse, along with shovels, drills, pickaxes, buckets and other excavation tools.
The Mexican army estimated the tunnel was about 150 yards long and more than 10 yards underground. The walls were lined with dirt and wide enough for one person to get through comfortably.
It takes six months to a year to build a tunnel, authorities said. Workers use shovels and pickaxes to slowly dig through the soil, sleeping in buildings where the tunnels begin until the job is done. Sometimes they use pneumatic tools.
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