Tickets fly as benefactor makes Derry concert free - BBC News
All tickets for the Peace One Day concert in Ebrington Square in Londonderry have been snapped up.
The tickets were offered free on Friday after benefactor Michael Hamyln offered to pay for them.
People who had already paid for tickets will get their money back.
The film producer said he is delighted to have made the gesture.
The concert on 21 June marks the start of the London 2012 Festival.
It will be the first major event to be staged at the arts quarter, which was formerly a military barracks.
The line-up includes Pixie Lott, Dublin singer Imelda May, indie-rockers Guillamots, Derry's Wondervillains and Newton Faulkner.
Founder of Peace One Day Jeremy Gilley said: "It's incredible that someone has come forward to make the concert free.
"I'm delighted. This opens the doors to everyone. It'll be a wonderful show in a wonderful city."
The free tickets were made available at 10:00 BST on Friday morning and ran out in less than two hours.
The director of the London 2012 Festival, Ruth Mackenzie, said the concert will "highlight the key theme of how sport and culture can resolve conflict.
"We are really grateful that thousands of lucky people will now be able to join in the celebration for free."
The event also marks the three-month countdown to Global Truce, a campaign that promotes peace.
The culmination of the Global Truce campaign will be another Peace Once Day concert in London on 21 September, the day of Global Truce and World Peace Day.
Stars join Songwriters Hall of Fame - BBC News
Ne-Yo, Bette Midler, Ben E. King and Bob Seger give their reaction to their awards
Multi-platinum artist Bob Seger, Bette Midler and R&B star Ne-Yo have been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
The team behind enduring hit Stand By Me - Ben E. King and songwriting duo Mike Stoller and the late Jerry Leiber - were given The Towering Song Award.
King was also presented with a special award for his performance on the track.
Ne-Yo, who was given the Hal David Starlight Award for young songwriters, credited music with saving him.
"I was a pretty riled up little kid," he explained, on the red carpet. "If not for my mom giving me the pad and the pen and telling me to take my emotions and put them there, there's no telling. I might I have been sticking you up or something."
Fleetwood Mac singer Stevie Nicks presented Bette Midler with the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievement Award. It honours industry veterans who are "pioneers in their craft" and have "inspired the music community".
Midler has enjoyed success on stage, screen and as a recording artist, winning three Grammys - including for her 1989 hit, Wind Beneath My Wings.
"Any award is a great honour," said Midler. "I mean people think of you and it is very sweet. It is all very sweet."
Seger kicked off the ceremony in New York with a performance of 1973 track, Turn the Page.
The Detroit rocker achieved commercial success with 1976 album Night Moves. He called songwriting the hardest but most rewarding thing he does.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame was founded in 1969 by Johnny Mercer to recognise the best in the field.
Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the writers of long-running musical, The Fantastick's, were also honoured in the ceremony's 43rd year.
Other inductees include Jim Steinman, who wrote Bat Out of Hell and Total Eclipse of the Heart, Canadian folk rocker Gordon Lightfoot, and Don Schlitz, who penned country hits including When You Say Nothing at All.
Among those taking to the stage to hand out awards or perform were Meatloaf, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, Steve Miller and Kenny Rogers.
Aides stop former RSS chief from speaking to media - Times of India
PUNE: Former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief K S Sudarshan was stopped from interacting with the media by his own men at a function held at Balgandharv Rangmandir on Thursday.
Sudarshan, who was in the city to attend a felicitation programme, was seated in the audience and not among dignitaries on the stage. When some media persons requested him to speak, Sudarshan readily agreed. However, his aides sitting nearby immediately surrounded him. They said that Sudarshan does not speak to the media without prior permission. Sudarshan looked puzzled by the reaction of his own men. "Why will I not speak? I am going to speak to them," he said. However, his aides did not relent and told the media persons to go away. "You need to understand the RSS system. Don't insist and go away. I know you are going to ask him about RSS," one of his associates said. Sudarshan remained a mute spectator as the journalists left the scene.
Sudarshan's early years as the sarsanghachalak were tumultuous with the BJP in power at the Centre. The Sangh Parivar came under attack for the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat and the Jinnah controversy triggered by Advani during a trip to Pakistan. Sudarshan, who retired in 2009 citing health reasons, made headlines for making controversial statements. In 2010, the Sangh had to express regret over one such statement he made against Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The Sangh had then clarified that Sudarshan's views on the Congress president do not represent the views of the organisation.
Sudarshan has kept a low profile since then and is guarded from making any statements, said an RSS worker present at the functioN.
TOWIE gang out in force at wrap party - The Sun
Series five of the hit ITV2 reality show finished last month, but the cast were seen being reunited on Wednesday night in a one-off Marbella special.
Lydia Bright was spotted arriving at the bash sporting a new choppy bob and fringe.
Earlier the 21-year-old had tweeted: "Love my new hair, my hair guru did me well once again thank u @robertkirbyuk @sanrizzsalons rocking out the fringe at the Towie wrap party x."
Lydia, who wore an off-the-shoulder mustard yellow frock, also posed arm-in-arm with new boyfriend Tom Kilbey, 21.
And the blonde later tweeted a pic of herself with mum Debbie, who also attended the bash, with the caption: "Me and my beautiful mother at the Towie wrap party."
Joey Essex, 21, donned yet another daring outfit for the party, teaming a tiny pale blue jacket with a shirt and tie, jeans and brown boots.
But the discomfort of his super-tight blazer obviously didn't stop him from enjoying himself last night, he tweeted: "Towie wrap party = SICK."
And he later added: "Towie wrap party was fun. Nice to see everyone happy x."
Sam Faiers, also 21, arrived at the do with sister Billie.
The girls looked stunning as Sam matched an off-the-shoulder white top with a multi-coloured sequinned skirt and Billie, 22, flashed her ample cleavage in a clingy light green and gold-studded Lypsy dress.
Both sported skyscraper sling-back peep-toe heels to the do.
Sam later tweeted a snap of Billie pouting at the camera writing: "Aww @BillieFaiers."
The photo also showed off busty Billie's incredible assets.
This morning Billie tweeted: "Morning everyone :-) had a brilliant time at the wrap party last night .. For all those asking, my dress i wore was lypsy xx."
Boutique co-owner Sam also posted a pic of her kissing boyfriend Joey.
She captioned the cute snap: "Just got home from the wrap party .. A tad drunk ?? Great night x x."
Charlie King, 26, who was pictured hanging out with pals "Little Chris" Drake, 25, and Bobby-Cole Norris, 24, tweeted last night: "What a great evening with amazing people- night all Or good morning x."
Charlie and Little Chris went for a smart-casual look, teaming suit jackets with jeans.
While Bobby opted to go a little bit more upmarket in a bright blue suit.
Cara Kilbey posed for a pic with close friends Frankie Essex and Billi Mucklow.
But she revealed she wouldn't be hitting the booze with her castmates at the bash, she wrote: "Being a good girl tonight on the water... #oooOoooOooo #H20."
The girls, all 24, looked gorgeous in a series of glam frocks.
Gemma Collins, who stripped off to her swimsuit to tell love interest Arg "You ain't ever gonna get this candy" in The Only Way Is Marbs, missed the bash.
The 31-year-old tweeted: "Gutted to have missed the Towie wrap party tonight hope everyone had fun off to the airport soon xx."
Newly-engaged Mario Falcone and Lucy Mecklenburgh were also absent, as they are currently in Dubai.
UPDATE 1-Japan lower house passes bill to insure Iran oil imports - Reuters UK
* Bill needs to pass opposition-controlled upper house
* Expected to become law around June 27
* Japan is first country to try to bypass EU ban (Adds detail)
By Risa Maeda
TOKYO, June 15 (Reuters) - Japan's lower house passed a bill on Friday to provide government guarantees on insurance for Iranian crude cargoes, a key step towards it becoming the first of Iran's big Asian oil buyers to get round new European Union sanctions.
The bill will now be sent to the upper house, where opposition parties have the majority but have signaled their support. It will become law by around June 27 if passed before the current parliamentary session ends next Thursday, said a government official who requested anonymity.
The Japanese government, which has succeeded in getting a waiver from U.S. financial sanctions, wants to provide coverage of up to $7.6 billion for each tanker carrying Iranian crude bound for Japan in the event of accidents.
An EU ban on member countries importing Iranian oil takes effect on July 1 and includes a ban on EU insurance firms from covering Iran's exports. That is a headache for Japan, South Korea, China and India, which together buy two thirds of Iran's oil exports and rely on EU companies to insure them.
EU and U.S. sanctions aim to cut the oil revenues on which Tehran depends to force the Islamic Republic to curb its nuclear programme. The West suspects Iran aims to develop weapons, while Tehran says it needs reactors for electricity supplies.
Iranian oil accounted for nearly 9 percent of Japan's crude imports last year. Japan has reduced the flow already to comply with U.S. sanctions requiring buyers to make sizeable cuts, but wants to avoid more drastic reductions that may drive up energy import costs and hurt the world's third-largest economy.
Refiners cut their purchases even as the country has needed more oil to fire power stations after last year's Fukushima disaster shut down the country's nuclear power capacity.
INDIA, CHINA FACE SAME ISSUE
India's government, which won an exemption to U.S. sanctions this week, has also been trying to figure out how it will get around the EU sanctions.
"We are struggling to find solutions," Oil Minister S. Jaipal Reddy told reporters in Vienna, where crude producers from OPEC are meeting. The government was studying sovereign guarantees, he added.
Iran's top buyer China has yet to detail how it plans to resolve the insurance problem, but industry sources there have said they will find a way to keep imports flowing.
South Korea will reduce imports to zero in July due to the insurance ban, industry sources have said. Seoul, like Tokyo, has lobbied the EU to delay or get a waiver on implementing the ban on insurers, but is not considering state guarantees, according to government sources there.
Those lobbying efforts have so far failed. The European Union will not cancel or delay the embargo on Iranian oil tankers, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said at an industry conference on Wednesday.
The International Energy Agency said on Tuesday that Iran's crude exports in April and May have fallen by 1 million bpd since the end of 2011 to 1.5 million bpd and that Tehran may need to shut in production.
China, Japan, India and South Korea have cut purchases by about a fifth from the 1.45 million bpd they were buying a year ago ahead of the imposition of the sanctions.
It is the first time Japan has sought to provide guarantees on marine shipments, said an official in the country's transport ministry, which is sponsoring the legislation. The official, who helped draft the bill, said he didn't know when the law will be passed by parliament. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Aaron Sheldrick and Ed Davies)
Liu Yang draws cheers as first Chinese woman set for space voyage - Reuters
JIUQUAN, China |
JIUQUAN, China (Reuters) - China will send its first woman into outer space this week, prompting a surge of national pride as the rising power takes its latest step towards putting a space station in orbit within the decade.
Liu Yang, a 33-year-old fighter pilot, will join two other astronauts aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft when it lifts off from a remote Gobi Desert launch site on Saturday evening.
They will attempt a manned docking for the first time with the Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) 1 module, launched last September and part of China's exploratory preparations for a space lab.
Rendezvous and docking exercises between the two vessels will be an important hurdle in China's efforts to acquire the technological and logistical skills needed to run a full space lab that can house astronauts for long stretches.
Beijing is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers: the United States and Russia. The Tiangong 1 is a trial module, not the building block of a space station.
But the docking mission will be the latest show of China's growing prowess in space, alongside its growing military and diplomatic presence, and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back U.S. manned space launches.
Speaking to the official Xinhua news agency, Liu said she "yearns to experience the wondrous, weightless environment of space, see the Earth and gaze upon the motherland".
"Thank you for the confidence put in my by the motherland and the people, for giving me this chance to represent China's millions of women by going into space," Liu later told reporters at the Jiuquan launch center.
Medical experts who helped select the crew of the Shenzhou 9, have said that female astronauts must meet the same criteria as men, and then some, according to the China Daily.
Female Chinese astronauts must be married and preferably be mothers, the newspaper said, citing concerns that radiation would "harm their fertility".
Liu, from the poor and populous central province of Henan, has been praised in state media for her nerves of steel after safely landing her fighter jet after a bird strike that left the cockpit glass covered with blood.
China's latest space mission has attracted even more than the usual national attention thanks to Liu's presence.
Her selection to the mission team rapidly became the top subject on the country's Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo, with 33 million posts.
"Liu Yang, on the eve of becoming our first woman is space, is the pride of Henan," wrote one user.
But others wondered if the money poured into space ambitions would be better used on Earth, where China is still a developing country and grappling with more mundane issues like food safety and a growing rich-poor divide.
"What use does Shenzhou 9 have? Will it help the people to not starve?" another user wrote.
(Additional reporting by Michael Martina, Ben Blanchard and Sabrina Mao in Beijing; Editing by Ron Popeski)
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