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Beijing (CNN) — Demonstrators braved a heavy police presence and the threat of arrest by massing Thursday in the streets of Kunming, China, to protest the planned construction of a chemical plant, they said.

“It was mostly a peaceful protest,” said an activist who asked to be identified only by his family name, Young. “We were singing the national anthem, shouting ‘Get out, refinery!’ together.”

He added, “We were scattered by the heavy police force in the area. I saw locals scuffling with police, people getting arrested and pulled away.”

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The plant is a hot topic in the city, which is the capital of Yunnan province in southwestern China.

“Every Kunming person cares about this issue,” said another Kunming native, a 50-year-old man who said rows of police thwarted his efforts to reach the heart of the protest. “The police kept blocking off the protest, block by block.”

Local government officials did not respond to CNN phone calls for comment.

Photos posted on Chinese social media sites showed uniformed and riot police surrounding groups of demonstrators.

The five activists who spoke to CNN asked not to be named for fear of reprisals from Chinese authorities.

The oil refinery and chemical plant would be built in Anning city, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Kunming, according to Xinhua, China’s state news agency.

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Opponents fear the chemical plant would produce tons of paraxylene, a carcinogenic chemical identified by the acronym PX.

Several days after a May 4 protest, the Kunming mayor joined executives from the state China National Petroleum Corp. and the Yuntianhua Group for a joint news conference.

“The government will call off the project if most of our citizens say no to it,” said Mayor Li Wenrong, according to Xinhua.

The provincial general manager of China National Petroleum Corp. has said the refinery will not use the chemical.

“The project has no PX facilities, nor will it produce PX products,” Hu Jingke said, according to Xinhua.

Kunming residentsexpressed deep distrust of government officials and the state-owned enterprises behind the refinery project.

Several said authorities took draconian measures in the days running up to Thursday’s protest in an attempt to prevent demonstrators from taking to the streets.

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A 25-year-old Kunming native who asked to be identified as Claire told CNN that police detained and interrogated her for more than nine hours after she was caught distributing anti-refinery fliers on a city street Tuesday.

“I understand we need oil refineries,” Claire said in a phone interview. She said she opposed this one because “it’s just so close to the city and the fact that the whole process was not transparent and we’re not allowed to ask questions.”

Claire said police accused her of staging an “illegal gathering.”

As part of the interrogation, she said, police took her to the print shop where she had made copies of her fliers. Then they escorted her to her parents’ home, where they demanded that she erase files about the refinery from her computer. Finally, she said, they threatened her and banned her from attending Thursday’s protest.

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“Basically, they’re saying if I have this on my record, I won’t get any government job or state-owned enterprise job,” Claire said.

Several other Kunming residents said students and employees of state-owned companies had been warned not to attend the demonstration.

“Kunming is a beautiful city, where we have cleaner air than any other cities in this country,” Young said.

“We fear the refinery will destroy the city’s natural environment, and we demanded to see the environmental impact assessment report of this project. But we were rejected by the government who told us it’s a ‘state secret.’ “

An executive from Yuntianhua, which also has a major stake in the chemical plant, told journalists that an environmental impact assessment for the project had not been completed, Xinhua said.

In March, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promised that health safeguards would be improved and efforts would be made to control air pollution and make water supplies safer.

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“We should adopt effective measures to prevent and control pollution and change the way we work and live,” Wen said.

The emphasis on environmental and health issues comes as China’s leaders confront growing anger about choking pollution, contaminated food, and water that is unsafe to drink.

The statistics are staggering. China now burns 3.8 billion tons of coal each year, nearly as much as the rest of the world combined. In January, the smog over Beijing was so thick, it could be seen from space.

China’s CO2 emissions rose by 720 million tons in 2011 — a 9.3% increase. Pollution and dust generated in China have been found as far away as California.

Maintaining blockbuster growth has sometimes come at the expense of environmental protections.

The government has made explicit its intention to weigh environmental regulation against the cost to the economy. But analysts say the public outcry over pollution has tipped the scales.

China has already tried to boost the use of alternative sources of power, setting standards for solar energy installation and switching from coal to gas in some cities.

CNNMoney’s Charles Riley contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/16/world/asia/china-protests/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/pdGuUAE4fDw/crack-down-on-plant-protests

Editor’s note: Geoff Hiscock is a former Asia business editor for CNN.com and is the author of “Earth Wars: The Battle for Global Resources,” published by Wiley.

(CNN) — The decision to grant permanent observer status to China and five other nations by the Arctic Council meeting in Sweden Wednesday reflects the heightened interest by some of the world’s most powerful economies in an area rich in oil, gas, minerals, fish and new transport possibilities.

For new observer nations China, Japan and South Korea, shorter shipping routes to Europe through Arctic waters could open up prospects of new energy supply options later this decade, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Russia’s Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia.

It could also lessen China’s dependence on oil and gas shipped from the Middle East, which must pass through the Southeast Asian chokepoint of the Strait of Malacca. Allied to China’s interest of getting oil and gas delivered from new pipelines across Myanmar and Central Asia, the potential of the Arctic trade routes loom large in China’s strategic thinking.

Five years ago, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) described the vast Arctic continental shelf as potentially the “largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on Earth.” A new U.S. Arctic policy unveiled by the Obama administration last week cites that 2008 study, which estimated that about 13% of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30% of its undiscovered gas lies north of the Arctic Circle.

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In a 2012 update, the USGS put the mean undiscovered estimate of recoverable oil in Russia’s Arctic provinces alone at 28 billion barrels, plus about 27 trillion cubic meters of gas.

China is keen to be more than just a customer for this Russian oil and gas. In February, the heads of China’s three state-controlled oil and gas majors — China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), Sinopec and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) — met one of Russia’s most influential players in the energy sector, Igor Sechin, chief executive of state-owned oil company Rosneft. The following month, Rosneft struck a deal with CNPC, giving it access to Arctic resources.

The Arctic Council, made up of the United States, Russia, Canada and the five Nordic nations — Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland — was set up in 1996 to coordinate policy in a resource-rich but environmentally sensitive part of the world. Before Wednesday’s decision there were already six observer states: the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and the Netherlands.

Now the permanent observers are being joined by China, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore and Italy, meaning that all of the key Asian economies now have a seat at the Arctic table, even though they will not have a vote on the Arctic Council. The European Union, the other major body seeking observer status, had its application affirmed but “deferred,” a rebuff that is likely related to an unresolved dispute with Canada over the fur seal trade.

Both China and India already have polar research stations in the northern part of Norway, as do most of the other observer nations.

The Arctic’s importance has gained extra strategic and economic significance as melting ice in the polar region strengthens the feasibility of nations to use the Northern Sea Route (NSR) across the top of Russia and the Northwest Passage through Canada’s Arctic archipelago. Canada claims the passage, which links the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, runs through its internal waterways. The U.S. and other countries contest this, maintaining it is an international strait.

For China, the main transportation focus is the NSR, which runs along the northern coastline of Siberia from Novaya Zemlya to the Bering Strait. It is open only for about five months of the year, from late June to November or early December, and requires icebreakers to cut a path through the Arctic ice for specially strengthened oil and gas carriers.

But the route cuts as much as three weeks from shipping times between Europe and Asia. For example, Murmansk to China’s Ningbo port near Shanghai is 13,000 km via the NSR, compared with 22,000 km via the Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Indian Ocean and Strait of Malacca.

In August to September last year, China sent its one and only icebreaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon) on a successful two-way test run of the NSR. It plans to add a second icebreaker to its fleet in 2014-15.

Over the past two sailing seasons, Russian oil and gas companies have tested the route for gas condensate and LNG shipments. In June 2011, Novatek, Russia’s biggest non-state gas company, sent 60,000 tons of gas condensate from Murmansk to the Chinese port of Ningbo aboard the MV Perseverance on a three-week voyage. At the end of 2012, Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom sent a 66,000-tonne cargo of LNG from Statoil’s Hammerfest terminal in Norway to the Japanese port of Tobata between November 7 and December 5. The route was cleared by three Russian icebreakers.

For now, the NSR is still very much in a test phase. According to the Centre for High North Logistics, an Arctic-focused information center based in Kirkenes, Norway, 46 vessels used the NSR in 2012, carrying about 1.26 million tons of cargo. That was an increase of more than 50% from 2011.

China envisages exporting consumer goods aboard container ships to Europe and receiving LNG cargoes via the NSR. Novatek, for example, is building a new port at Sabetta on the Yamal peninsula to service the LNG trade to Asia, with expectations of first gas in 2016 and exports of 15 million tons a year by 2018.

The NSR’s shortcomings are considerable: a short sailing season, the cost of hiring icebreakers, the operational hazards of extreme northern waters and the environmental risks of oil spills, collisions or sinkings. Even so, this Arctic shipping route is likely to be the focus of intense interest by China over the next decade.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/16/business/china-arctic/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/n3BgmKZaJvI/china-eyes-arctic-options-in-energy

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Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has won plaudits for his intelligent musings on football. “You can speak about spirit — or you can live it,” he told the Guardian newspaper this week.

The Bratwurst, a traditional German sausage, is renowned all over the world and is a big favorite with football fans.

Kim Kardashian is just one of a whole host of celebrities to have visited Munich’s Oktoberfest — a beer festival which is held in the city every year.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is a huge football fan and will be a keen spectator at the Champions League final.

While Dortmund’s players have produced on the pitch, its fans have done likewise in the stands with a number of outstanding montages on the famous Sudtribune terrace.

Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira have become an integral part of Germany’s new multicultural team under manager Joachim Low. The pair have established themselves as stars on the world stage with the national team and Spanish club side Real Madrid.

Six-time grand slam tennis champion Boris Becker, who once sat on the Bayern board, believes hosting the 2006 World Cup transformed his country’s image.

Sebastian Vettel, Formula One’s treble world champion, is one of Germany’s most famous faces and is revered across the sporting world.

Christoph Waltz has become a leading name in Hollywood since winning an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in Quentin Tarantino’s film “Django Unchained.” Waltz is the son of a German father and Austrian mother.

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(CNN) — The Germans are coming — and this time London cannot wait.

Germany suddenly finds itself in the unusual position of being uber cool, and that is in no small part thanks to the first all-German European Champions League final on Saturday, when Bayern Munich takes on Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium, the home of English soccer.

From triple world champion Sebastian Vettel revving up as the poster boy of Formula One, to Oscar-winning actor Christoph Waltz, — who is the son of a German father and Austrian mother — starring on the big screen, Germany has a newfound confidence about itself.

And yet, some stereotypes just won’t disappear.

Within minutes of Dortmund’s semifinal victory over Real Madrid, the first “jokes” began to emerge with the UK’s tabloid papers jesting that “fans had their towels on the seats already” — a reference to German holidaymakers’ apparent habit of claiming sun loungers at beach resorts.

Traditionally the British have had a particularly testing relationship with Germany, and it has much to do with the two World Wars of the 20th Century.

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As recently as a decade ago, stereotypical images of Germans decked out in Lederhosen, socks and sandals goosestepping to the beat of the Oompah Band armed with a Bratwurst and quaffing a Weissbier were not uncommon in British red-top tabloids.

On the terraces, England fans would taunt their German opponents with songs about World War II and the infamous “Ten German Bombers song” where the victory of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain is recounted.

Peep Show, one of the most popular British TV sitcoms of recent years, is one of the more contemporary programs to reference the “Sausage-munching Bosch” and “Fritz, the Bratwurst Guzzler.”

But former tennis star Boris Becker believes his country’s successful hosting of the World Cup in 2006 has helped transformed Germany’s image.

“I think we have shown the world how diverse and multicultural Germany has become,” says the six-time grand slam champion, who has been hugely popular in Britain since winning Wimbledon at the age of 17 in 1985.

“We did a great job with the visiting fans,” he told CNN. “And whoever was there seven years ago has seen a different side of Germany and have realized that the new Germans are much ‘cooler.’

“I wouldn’t say that the English are falling in love with Germany, but I think they have respect for what Germany has achieved in the sporting world.

“There is a new multicultural wave coming from Germany, which is very international and very cosmopolitan.”

Swashbuckling style

Britain, too, has come a long way in its perception of Germany since John Cleese famously goosestepped his way around Fawlty Towers as hotel owner Basil Fawlty in one of the country’s most beloved TV comedies during the 1970s.

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It’s not just the swashbuckling style personified by Bayern and Dortmund that has helped reinvent attitudes to Germany — it’s also been reinforced by the nation’s football team under the guidance of ultra-cool Joachim Low.

Comprised of players from the German, Polish, Turkish, Tunisian and African communities, Low’s squad produced the kind of exhilarating and vibrant football which helped the team reach the final of the 2008 European Championships, as well as the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup and 2012 Euros.

Behind the scenes, the Bundesliga, with its low ticket prices, safe standing areas and stylish infrastructure, has eclipsed the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga as the hipsters’ choice.

These days fans from all over Europe flock to stand on Dortmund’s famous Sudtribune terrace, to catch a glimpse of Bayern or venture further to the likes of St. Pauli in Hamburg, a favorite with many foreign supporters.

“The weather is good and the beer is better,” quipped the Bundesliga’s chief executive Christian Seifert after being asked why German football attracts so many tourists.

“But I think it’s more to do with safe standing, the relatively low ticket prices in relation to very attractive games and a good atmosphere at the stadium,” he told CNN.

“In 2006, more English tourists were in Germany than ever before and in those four weeks we had great marketing and great weather. It was the best summer I can remember.

“After the World Cup, a lot of investment was made in stadium infrastructure, so it was really easy to get there.

“We have a relatively low amount of season tickets, so it’s possible to get a ticket in the ‘free’ sale at a fair price. If then, somebody says they want to see a Bundesliga game, then that’s great.”

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Football fans are also attracted to the Oktoberfest, a 16-day celebration of beer held in Munich each year, with its clubs and bars making it a popular destination for bachelor parties and weekends away.

Jingoistic stereotypes

Matthias Krug, an author and journalist, says he heard and witnessed anti-German chants and rhetoric when he lived in England between 2004 and 2007.

The nations’ footballing rivalry stems back to the 1966 World Cup final, when England controversially beat West Germany in extra time at Wembley as Geoff Hurst scored a goal that is still debated to this day.

West Germany got revenge in Mexico four years later, while the English have since suffered heartbreak against “Die Mannschaft” in several high-profile tournaments since — though 2001′s 5-1 triumph in a World Cup qualifier in Munich provided some respite.

“I once traveled on a train in northern England which was completely packed and then people suddenly began singing a vivid song about one English victory in football and two in wars,” says Krug, who lived in Nottingham between 2004 and 2007, but now works in Qatar.

“I think fighter pilots from the RAF were also mentioned. It must have been my looks which sparked them. I don’t remember having said a word, either pre- or post-singing,” he told CNN.

“Obviously stereotypes related to Germany, both positive and negative, that have been very strong as a result of history and also our sporting history.

“They also vary greatly; others in England showed a strong sense of respect for the achievements and consistency of German football.”

In 1996, before England hosted a semifinal clash with Germany at the European Championships, the tabloid Daily Mirror published a front page with the words, “Achtung, surrender, for you Fritz, ze Euro 96 Championship is over.”

Ten years later, The Sun newspaper provoked fury from German Chancellor Angela Merkel after publishing an unflattering photo of her from behind while she changed into a swimming costume with a headline of: “I’m bigger than the Bumdestag.”

That incident provoked fury in Germany and no shortage of embarrassment in the UK.

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Bayern vs. Dortmund in numbers

New York Yankees president Randy Levine, MLS chief Don Garber and Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano revealed the new franchise plans.

Former Manchester City star Patrick Vieira threw a ceremonial pitch at a recent New York Yankees game against Toronto.

Former French international star Thierry Henry is the star player at the only current MLS franchise in the Big Apple, the New York Red Bulls.

David Beckham played for six seasons with Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS and helped popularize football in the United States. He helped them to the last two MLS titles.

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Man City and Yankees partner in MLS expansion side New York City FC

David Beckham waves after his team Paris St. Germain played Brest in his final home match in Paris on Saturday, May 18. Beckham signed on with the team just a few months ago, and now he is retiring. Click through for a look back at Beckham through the years.

Beckham poses with Paris Saint-Germain President Nasser Al-Khelaifi, left, and PSG sports director Leonardo during a press conference announcing his new gig in January 2013.

Beckham makes his England debut at a World Cup Europe Qualifying Round Group 2 match against Moldova in 1996.

Beckham celebrates his goal in the 1998 World Cup Finals versus Colombia in 1998.

Becks as a member of Manchester United cools down during the FA Charity Shield match against Arsenal at Wembley Stadium in London in 1998.

At the 1998 World Cup in France, in a second-round match against Argentina, Beckham was sent off for kicking out at Diego Simeone. England lost the match on penalties and was eliminated, with Beckham becoming a hate figure for some fans.

Beckham poses after a press conference in Awaji-shima Island, Japan, in 2002.

Beckham poses with Beyonce, left, and Jennifer Lopez during a presentation of the new Pepsi “Samourai” in Madrid in 2004.

Becks waves after a la Liga match between Real Madrid and Deportivo La Coruna in Madrid in 2007.

The midfielder celebrates with his sons in 2007 after Real Madrid won the Spanish League title by beating Mallorca.

Beckham makes an appearance to promote his fragrance “David Beckham Intimately Night” in Sydney in 2007.

Beckham reveals his new No. 32 Adidas jersey as part of an announcement of the start of his loan move to AC Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2008.

Beckham controls the ball during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier of European Group 6.

Beckham unveils the new Emporio Armani underwear ad campaign for the fall/winter of 2009-2010.

Beckham, No. 23 of the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team, walks toward the line judge to have a chat during Game 1 of the MLS Western Conference Semifinals against Chivas USA in 2009.

Becks arrives at Sydney International Airport in 2010.

David and Victoria Beckham arrive at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey in 2011.

The Beckhams attend the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in West Hollywood, California, in 2012.

Beckham celebrated his second MLS Cup success with the Los Angeles Galaxy in December 2012, when he decided to leave with a year left on his contract as he sought one final career challenge in Europe.

Beckham passes under Tower Bridge in a speedboat which carries the Olympic Torch and its torchbearer in 2012.

Beckham acts as England’s captain during the 2004 European Nations Championship football match against Croatia in Lisbon, Portugal.

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David Beckham through the years

Philipp Lahm, left, of the German football team Bayern Munchen attends the Oktoberfest beer festival with his teammate Thomas Mueller in Munich, Germany, on Sunday, October 7, the last day of the world’s biggest beer festival. See more of CNN’s best photography.

People in traditional Bavarian garb fire a salute Sunday on the steps of the Bavaria monument.

A Bavarian riflewoman waits before the salute on Sunday.

Visitors and the giant bronze sculpture ‘Bavaria’ are reflected in the brass players’ instruments on Sunday.

Christian Ude, Munich’s lord mayor, attends the traditional Boellerschiessen salute on the last day of Oktoberfest on Sunday.

Visitors drink beer while rain falls on the Oktoberfest festival fairground on Sunday.

Bayern Munchen football club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, from left, head coach Jupp Heynckes, Bundesliga league board member Karl Hopfner and sporting director Matthias Sammer clink steins on Sunday.

Young people, some dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing, wait outside a duck roast beer tent at the Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, October 6.

Decked-out attendeees chat on Friday, October 5.

A father and son dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing ride in a bumper car on Friday.

People dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing ride swings during Friday’s festivities.

Oktoberfest visitors get into the spirit in a festival tent at the Theresienwiese on Friday.

An Oktoberfest visitor has a rest on the lawn at the Theresienwiese.

It’s standing-room only at Oktoberfest in Munich on Wednesday, October 3.

Festivalgoers enjoy a ride at the Theresienwiese fairgrounds in Munich, Germany, at the Oktoberfest beer festival on Tuesday, October 2.

A booth sells gingerbread hearts at Oktoberfest on Tuesday.

Grigoris Makos of the football team TSV 1860 Munich and his wife, Athena, enjoy some suds Tuesday.

Musicians perform in front of the Bavaria statue during the Oktoberfest concert in Munich on Sunday, September 30.

Musicians perform Sunday at the Theresienwiese in Munich.

A girl holds balloons during Sunday’s concert.

Alphorn musicians play at the foot of the Bavaria monument Sunday.

A waiter carries beer mugs through the Braeurosl beer tent during day seven of Oktoberfest 2012 on Friday, September 28, in Munich.

A man dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing eats fried calamari on Friday.

People dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing attend the beer festival.

Revelers enjoy themselves as they drink beer outside the Braeurosl beer tent Friday.

A man dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing rests.

A girl wearing a Bavarian Dirndl dress fires a rifle at a shooting range at Oktoberfest.

A waitress carries mugs of beer to customers at the Braeurosl beer tent.

People enjoy themselves as they drink beer outside the Lowenbrau beer tent.

A woman dressed in traditional Bavarian clothing attends day seven of Oktoberfest on Friday.

People sit on benches under a tent on Thursday, September 27.

A woman stands in front of gingerbread hearts on Wednesday, September 26, the fifth day of the festival.

Michael Schifferl decorates a gingerbread cookie at his stand on Tuesday, September 25.

A colorful swing ride turns on Tuesday, the fourth day of the festival.

A young woman drinks beer at the Oktoberfest beer festival on Monday, September 24.

A woman serves Hendl at the Theresienwiese Oktoberfest fairgrounds on Monday.

Revelers fill an Oktoberfest tent at the Theresienwiese festival grounds on Sunday, September 23.

Two men wearing traditional Bavarian clothes take part in the costumes and riflemen parade on Sunday.

Visitors rest on the grass on Sunday.

Revelers dressed in traditional Bavarian clothes celebrate at Schottenhamel beer tent on Saturday, September 22.

The attractions light up the fairgrounds on the first night of the festival on Saturday.

A booth selling fried nuts attracts people evening on Saturday evening.

German actor Axel Milberg and his wife, Judith, cheer with beer mugs on Saturday.

Revelers wearing different types of mock lederhosen walk at the festival.

Waitresses prepare for the opening day of Oktoberfest 2012.

Typical Oktoberfest heart badges are seen at a beer tent.

Police officers wait for the opening parade to begin.

A woman wearing a traditional Bavarian Dirndl dress drinks beer.

Visitors hold umbrellas as they wait in front of a beer tent.

A waiter brings beer mugs to participants.

Horses pulling a beer coach march in the parade.

A tuba player performs as a parade kicks off the festival.

A man in traditional Bavarian clothes and his dogs wait for the opening parade.

Waitresses of the Spaten brewery wave with beer mugs. See more of CNN’s best photography.

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Photos: Oktoberfest 2012 beer festival

But it’s not just in Britain, where this deep-rooted hostility towards Germany is alive and kicking.

Most recently, Merkel has suffered from having her economic policies compared to those of the Nazis by the Hungarian Prime Minister, while the the German leader has also been lampooned by the Greek press.

Media perception

According to the 2011 UK census, there are 274,000 Germans living on British shores.

“At the moment it is really cool to read all the very well-informed and positive articles about German football in the British press,” says Karl Pfeiffer, the director of educational links at London’s Goethe-Institut.

“Since the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the media perception of German football and Germany in general has dramatically changed,” added Pfeiffer, who has lived in England since 1986.

“Personally I never encountered stereotypical comments or remarks, but parts of the press here before 2006 were a different matter.

“In my job I work on a German football project with Arsenal, which has two great and popular German players, Lukas Podolski and Per Mertesacker.

“The project is for school children and it is great to see how interested they are in in German football, too.”

Dortmund’s success in reaching the final has particularly struck a chord with neutral fans given the club almost went out of business eight years ago.

Under the guidance of charismatic coach Jurgen Klopp, whose popularity has seen a pop song written about him, Dortmund’s run to the final has left even the most hard-hearted of seasoned aficionados willing on the men in yellow and black.

“It is really nice to see how well Dortmund and Klopp are liked all over Europe,” Sandra Goldschmidt, a devoted follower of the club, told CNN.

“Everyone loves a little fairytale story like ours from nearly having to go into administration to being in a Champions League final, and that is really all thanks to Klopp.

“I guess that people in England also really admire it that we have done this without making big-money signings but by finding talents.”

So as Bayern and Dortmund fans walk down Wembley Way, originally constructed by German prisoners of war in the 1940s, it will provoke a timely reminder of how the world has moved on.

And it is Krug’s hope that Saturday’s showpiece will galvanize further change in attitudes towards Germans.

“This year’s Champions League final may well prove to be a temporary culmination of changing perceptions towards Germany,” he said.

“Football has the power to change worldwide stereotypes and perceptions. It’s done so in the past and it will do so again.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/24/sport/football/champions-league-bayern-dortmund-football/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/sp4FiuxP1NU/wieners-to-wunderbar-how-germany-got-cool

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(CNN) — When Germany’s two biggest soccer clubs go head-to-head in Saturday’s Champions League final, there can only be one winner: German industry.

The Bavarians of Bayern Munich will look to rectify last year’s heartbreak on home soil against Chelsea when they take on a formidable Borussia Dortmund side that is seeking to emulate the club’s only success in Europe’s top competition, back in 1997.

Some of the biggest talents in world football will be on show at Wembley come kickoff at 1845 GMT in London, with the likes of Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery and Robert Lewandowski set to dazzle the crowd.

But the all-Bundesliga final could just be the sideshow to a bigger German act, as billion-dollar corporates gear up for one of the major advertising opportunities in world sport.

From sportswear multinationals such as Adidas and Puma to insurance giants Allianz and Signal Iduna, Wembley stadium will be awash with the household names of German commerce — all helpfully beamed to a global television audience of potentially 150 million.

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Thousands of toxic yellow and crimson red jerseys will sport the names of Dortmund’s sponsor — chemical manufacturer Evonik — and that of Bayern — Deutsche Telekom — as Europe’s largest economy struts its industrial might on club football’s most prestigious stage.

Read: Double trouble for Bundesliga?

Germany, Europe’s manufacturing powerhouse, is considered one of the economic bright spots of a continent dogged by recession despite the country posting growth of only 0.1% in the first quarter of this year, driven mostly by consumer spending.

Despite low growth, Germans — recognized as the best savers in Europe — proved they were ready to flaunt their cash as Dortmund received a staggering half a million ticket requests for the final while Bayern received 250,000. Wembley can hold just 90,000 fans.

Football finance expert Simon Chadwick said the final will provide a “brilliant showcase” for “Brand Germany,” adding that the flair and style of the Bundesliga as well as the wide array of homegrown talent on display will enhance the brands connected with the teams.

“Existing brand associations that many people around the world have with German products — notably efficiency and quality — will no doubt be reinforced,” Chadwick told CNN.

Financial model of sustainability

The ties between German industry and football run deep.

Unlike in England, France and Spain, where clubs are backed by Arab sheikhs, Russian oligarchs and American tycoons, the German league prefers a more homely approach to club financing.

Christian Seifert, chief executive officer of the Bundesliga and a self-proclaimed Borussia Monchengladbach fan, is skeptical as to whether the final will boost the national economy, but he does believe the game will be a good advert for German football.

“Bayern and Dortmund are proof that it is possible to have good sporting performance and to have solid financial behavior,” Seifert told CNN.

Unlike other top leagues which attract more global endorsers, the Bundesliga clubs are largely sponsored by domestic brands — 15 of the 18 clubs in Gemany’s top tier for the 2012-13 season were backed by local companies ranging from multi-billion-dollar insurance firms to family chicken and dairy farmers.

“The big difference that you notice between other clubs in Europe is the degree of indigenous corporate engagement,” sports finance expert Tom Cannon told CNN.

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Even the stadia are part of the Bundesliga’s “Brand Germany” philosophy.

While fans of Manchester United or Liverpool would scorn at the renaming of Old Trafford as the Aon Arena or Anfield as the Standard Chartered Stadium, regular rechristening is the norm for the 18 Bundesliga teams.

So the Commerzbank Arena — home to Eintracht Frankfurt and located in the country’s financial heartland — is named after one of Germany’s biggest banks. Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, once the Westfalenstadion, and Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena — both tagged by insurers — serve as further examples of the close links with big business in Germany.

Chadwick believes branding stadiums reveals a consensus in football that is characteristic of German society and culture, where sponsor and fan cooperation is seen as for the club’s greater good.

“This shows both a level of commercialism and a certain betrayal of history and heritage that some fans both in Germany and in other countries find unacceptable,” said Chadwick.

Read: All-German final down to youth policy

However, there is one fundamental rule for all Bundesliga teams that ensures fans are not kept in the dark when it comes to the control of their club.

The “50 plus one” rule — a revered model of football governance whereby fans are the majority stakeholder — applies to all clubs participating in the Bundesliga, with the exception of Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg.

Those teams were founded by pharmaceutical company Bayer and car manufacturer Volkswagen respectively and are 100% owned by these companies, with the stadiums — BayArena and Volkswagen Arena — named in their honor.

This is due to a rule that states if a club in Germany receives major financial backing from one party for over 20 years, that party can then take a controlling stake in the club.

The boardroom structure in the Bundesliga is unique and completely different to the big clubs in England, where a relatively small ownership group dominates the board.

“The boards of these (German) clubs are packed with corporate heavyweights,” said Cannon. “It’s a confident assertion of German industry.”

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CNN Football Club: Alex Ferguson special

Although Bayern is owned by the fans, both Adidas and carmaker Audi have 9% stakes in the club, with the chairmen of both companies sitting on its supervisory board.

In the case of Dortmund, 82% of the club is free-float stock and owned by the fans but the corporate board is dominated by businessmen with backgrounds in banking and shipping.

Read: Football enters space age with ‘Footbonaut’

Bundesliga boss Seifert insists he is not concerned by the intimacy between big business and football clubs in Germany because the revenue generated by the teams pales in comparison to big multinational brands’ profits.

“I don’t think they’re too close,” said Seifert. “The good thing is that the 100,000 jobs are created through the Bundesliga in Germany.

“We’re talking about global brands and they’re using football as a marketing instrument all over the globe.”

Read: Time for Premier League to give youth a chance, says Hargreaves

The strategy pursued by the German Football Federation and the Bundesliga after a poor showing at the European Championships in 2000 has paved the way for the nation’s current success at both club and international level.

“Each club that wanted to play in the top two tiers of the Bundesliga — 36 clubs — had to have a youth academy,” Seifert said.

“Today more than €100 million ($128 million) per year is invested and 5,000 players are educated in the program.”

Dave Webb, a scout for English Premier League club Southampton who spent time observing the Bayer Leverkusen setup, explained that there has been major investment by Bundesliga clubs at grassroots level — and players coming up from youth level are given more time to flourish than players in the English system.

“Bayern and Dortmund are very strong at youth level and that is behind their success,” said Webb. “Players are judged a bit later in the Bundesliga — instead of 17 or 18, players can go right through to under-21 level before they reach the first team.”

Given that co-ordinated strategy allied to long-term planning, no wonder “Fussball” is coming home — to Germany.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/sport/football/german-football-business-champions-league/index.html?eref=edition

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NZXT H630 Review

Manufacturer: NZXT
UK price (as reviewed): £120.76 (inc VAT)
US price (as reviewed): approx $149 (ex Tax)

We were quite excited by the recent announcement of NZXT’s H630 chassis, as it promised plenty of water-cooling support as well as low noise and a minimalist aesthetic, all for a price tag that’s relatively affordable compared with some of its other enthusiast cases like the Phantom 630 and Phantom 820. With these characteristics and its XL-ATX motherboard support, it immediately puts us in mind of Fractal’s Define XL R2, itself a solid performer. However, the H630 is £20 more than the XL R2, so it’ll need to work to justify this premium.

The dimensions of the H630 aren’t drastically different to those of Fractal’s chassis. Its slightly increased width is the most noticeable comparison, but the NZXT case is also a touch deeper and slightly shorter, so it will be interesting to see how the two differ in their use of internal space. Externally speaking, the H630 is all about minimalism, being both sleek and flat all around. Black steel is used on both the roof and the front fascia as well as both side panels (a white version is also available), and it has a very smooth finish to it. Build quality is very high too, as the H630 is a robust and weighty chassis with no wobbly, creaky or loose panels.

Click to enlarge – Along with the side panels, the overlapping roof and front panels are finished in a smooth steel
The front fascia consists of little more than a white hard drive activity LED above two steel optical drive covers. The protruded sections of the roof and front panel that overlap each other are reminiscent of the angular design of NZXT’s Phantom cases, while also being far more refined. The roof panel itself features the large, sturdy power button (with an LED lit ring around it to indicate power) and a small reset one, but is otherwise flat and smooth along with the featureless side panels. Ventilated strips along the left side of the roof panel and right side of the front one lend the case a subtle asymmetry, and their small size is indicative of NZXT’s commitment to keeping sound contained within the H630.

The similarities between the roof and front panels continue in terms of the fans they can house. While a single 200mm fan is mounted to the front of the case by default, it’s actually possible to mount two such fans to both areas, although users can also opt to install a pair of 140mm fans or three 120mm ones instead. There’s no filter supplied for the bundled 200mm fan, but the front ventilation strip is backed by material that will keep dust at bay. Oddly for a case geared towards silence, there’s no front door – initially, we actually pulled at the top of the front panel as if to open it – so you’ll have to fully remove the fascia to access the fan mounts.

Click to enlarge – The front I/O panel is located on the right side, and includes an SD card reader
The front I/O ports aren’t located in one of the usual areas, and are instead found along the top right side of the front panel, so you’ll ideally want to position the case to the left of where you sit. A standard array of USB 2, USB 3 and audio ports are joined by some of NZXT’s finishing touches, namely an SD card reader and a toggle switch for two white LEDs above the motherboard back panel and expansion slots. These are both features we wish we saw more of, but the absence of any fan control is an oversight for almost any case nowadays. It’s especially true, however, in an enthusiast chassis designed for low noise, where the ability to control airflow (and thus noise) is practically a necessity.

Click to enlarge – The rear PSU dust filter is easier to use than the front one
The rear of the H630 has a lot of ventilation for a low noise case, but doesn’t feature any water-cooling holes. What it does feature is a 140mm fan, the height of which can be adjusted to align with your CPU cooler’s airflow (120mm models are also supported). It’s a shame there isn’t another fan bundled with the H630, however, particularly as the Define XL R2 has a trio of them. Finally, the bottom of the case features large, solid feet affixed with good rubber grips. There’s also two slide out dust filters; one for the PSU that’s easy to remove and replace, and a longer one for the two bottom fan mounts, which is more fiddly to align when replacing.

Specifications

• Dimensions (mm) 245 x 567 x 547 (W x D x H)
• Material Steel, plastic
• Available colours Matte black (reviewed), glossy white
• Weight 14kg
• Front panel Power, reset, 2 x USB 2, 2 x USB 3, stereo, microphone
• Drive bays 2 x external 5.25in, 8 x internal 3.5in/2.5in, 2 x internal 2.5in
• Form factor(s) XL-ATX, ATX, micro-ATX, mini-ITX
• Cooling 2 x 200mm/140mm or 3 x 120mm front fan mounts (1 x 140mm fan included), 1 x 140mm/120mm rear fan mount (1 x 140mm fan included), 2 x 200mm/140mm or 3 x 120mm roof fan mounts, 2 x 140mm/120mm bottom fan mounts, 2 x 140mm/120mm internal fan mounts (fans not included)
• CPU cooler clearance 190mm
• Maximum graphics card length 354mm
• Extras Removable dust filters, NZXT Grid fan hub, rear I/O panel LED, SD card reader

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ASRock’s next-generation motherboards will come with A-Style Conformal Coating, making them waterproof – for certain values thereof.

Motherboard maker ASRock has shown off another of its upcoming A-Style features to appear on its Haswell-compatible next-generation boards, with a live demo of the waterproof coating selected models are to receive.

Dubbed A-Style Conformal Coating, ASRock’s latest gimmick allows the motherboard to survive getting splashed with water – making it a feature the company hopes will appeal to watercooling enthusiasts worried about a leak, or extreme overclockers who are concerned about the inevitable condensation that comes from the use of below-ambient cooling products like liquid nitrogen towers.

The technology isn’t exclusive to ASRock: the process of protecting circuits from damage using a conformal coating material is well established. ASRock, however, is claiming its coating goes above and beyond those offered by its competitors.

A demonstration video released by the company shows the Conformal Coating in action. An ASRock motherboard is suspended above a a container full of water at an angle while water is poured over the top, running down the length of the board and pouring from the bottom. While that’s something most computer owners would be reluctant to do with their products even while they’re switched off, a quick pan upwards reveals that the board is fully operational at the time.

It’s an impressive demonstration, but one that uses a little bit of trickery: the Conformal Coating is electrically insulative, which is why the demonstration works without anything releasing the magic smoke, but as a result it cannot be applied to anything that needs to be conductive.This means the exposed headers on the motherboard, its power connectors, PCI Express sockets – anything where you could be reasonably expected to connect a cable or jumper – must stay dry at all times to avoid a damaging short.

To be fair, it’s not a limitation ASRock is trying to hide: the company clearly states in its video description that ‘the pins need to stay conductive therefore they are not covered by Conformal Coating [and] the water in this video is designed to avoid the pins which still risks [a] short circuit.‘ Knowing that, however, the demonstration becomes significantly less impressive.

As mentioned, it’s very rare for a modern mass-produced and complex circuit board to have exposed traces; instead, the entire board is covered in a protective coating designed to prevent corrosion and damage to what are often hair-fine copper tracks. While ASRock’s A-Style Conformal Coating is likely a thicker and more robust example of this, most modern motherboards could equally survive a quick splash of water – providing, as in ASRock’s demonstration, the water avoids any exposed contacts on the board – thanks to their own non-A-Style conformal coatings.

The A-Style Conformal Coating is one of the methods by which ASRock is hoping to rise above its competitors when people start looking for Haswell compatible motherboards, along with other A-Style features including HDMI input for pass-through video, on-board 802.11ac WI-Fi, a Home Cloud storage system and A-Style Purity Sound on-board audio.

If you’re curious as to how ASRock’s Conformal Coating stands up, the company’s demonstration video is reproduced below.

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CNN’s Human to Hero series screens every week on World Sport. Click here for show times, videos and features.

(CNN) — Zoe Smith’s petite frame should fool nobody — she’s a weightlifting warrior.

If the 19-year-old isn’t employing her immense physical strength to lift more than 120 kilograms — easily double her own weight — she’s smiting Twitter trolls who are foolish enough to take her on.

“I suppose there is the stereotype that women who lift weights are butch,” she told CNN’s Human to Hero series about the online attacks she has faced.

“Or my favorite one is lesbians, which is a ridiculous kind of thing to say because I don’t understand how lifting weights could make you a lesbian. But anyway, it’s not me who thinks these things.”

Smith may stand at just five foot three inches tall but tenacity courses through her veins, evident by a debut performance at the London Olympics that cemented her status as Great Britain’s preeminent weightlifter.

She equated the noise that greeted her British record lift of 121 kg in the 58 kg category to the tumult that was lavished upon one of her favorite bands, Muse, at one of their Wembley Stadium gigs.

And though that cacophony saluted her strength, mental fortitude has been just as valuable in her battle to convince people that lifting weights was her destiny — even her mum and dad.

“At first everybody was like ‘What are you doing?’ when I told them I had started weightlifting, even my parents actually,” she said.

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“It wasn’t the fact that they thought it was like a ‘boy’s sport,’ it was the fact they were paying for me to do gymnastics and I was spending all my time in the weights gym! So they weren’t best pleased. But then I think my dad came in first and saw me lifting.

Read: The importance of being ‘gorgeous’

“I think I was only doing high pulls, so from the floor to about (shoulder height) on about 60 kilos and just being curious about it I think my dad picked it up when no-one was looking and his face went white as a sheet.

“He wasn’t quite himself the whole way home and I overheard him say to my Mum, ‘I’ve just seen what she’s lifting!’ “

If her dad was shocked then, he’ll surely be flabbergasted by now.

Smith has gone to conquer a multitude of British records since taking up the sport, in her two chosen disciplines: the snatch and the clean and jerk.

In 2010, at 16, she became the first Englishwoman to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games, taking home the bronze, and added silver at the World Youth Games the following year before hitting the big stage at London 2012.

Her experience in India for the Commonwealths gives an indication of the dedication her sport requires.

“I think I had, in the past couple of days prior to that, just an egg and a glass of water — this is the extreme measures we have to go to in order to cut weight for our category,” she said.

Read: World’s oldest marathon man, 102

“It was boiling hot and I felt I was going to die. But had I been on form I probably could have won. Bronze wasn’t bad, I’m hoping to go back next year (in Glasgow, Scotland) and get the gold.”

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Smith had always set her heart on appearing in the Olympics, but by the time she was 12, she’d grown to realize it wouldn’t be in the field of gymnastics — her first love.

Her coach planted a seed that she might have a far better chance of making it to the Olympics if she swapped the high bars for the dumbbells.

And despite the switch perplexing her family and friends at first, the idea stuck.

“I was powerful but not very graceful so I would never have made it as a gymnast,” Smith said. “I was always good at tumbling and stuff but I could never get to grips with beam bars — I was terrified of stuff like that.

“They needed a girl for the weightlifting club to take part in a competition to make up a full team so I gave it a go and I took to it quite quickly.”

Read: ‘Beauty is a woman riding a wave’

Junior British records had been tumbling throughout her teens but it was the limelight of London 2012 that thrust her into the public consciousness.

Though not yet 20, Smith radiates the twin characteristics that delight British sports fans — a mixture of bulldog and underdog.

Tenacious, driven, plucky and resilient, her makeup formed a potent cocktail that legions of followers in in the UK found irresistible.

But as is often the case with high-profile sporting stars, her achievements at the Games drew sniping in some quarters on social media sites.

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If they hadn’t realized while watching her delight the partisan home crowd, the trolls soon found out that Smith is not one to take a backwards step.

“Doing a sport like this I think you’re going to get a bit of stick but I’m quite good at handling that kind of thing,” she said.

“I’m really competitive and I like to win arguments. I never let things slide so I just have to take them up on it and say ‘Well, why am I a lesbian? Why am I butch?’ All this kind of stuff.

“They never have a real answer for it so until someone proves that it’s going to change me or the way I am, I am going to keep doing it.”

Read: From the front line to the try line

Respected and admired for her display at the Games, finishing 12th in the overall competition, she was also lauded for the head-on way she tackled her detractors.

And her profile was such that many people have been in touch to ask how they can get into the sport.

So how does she look back on the experience of competing in her hometown Olympics?

“It was crazy,” she said. “I still can’t really put into words how I feel about it. Again I think I was really nervous, I didn’t have the best competition.

“I got the British record in clean and jerk which was good. And I just really enjoyed competing in front of a home crowd.

“It was terrifying and nerve-racking; I think I experienced every emotion available to mankind. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I would do it all again if I could.”

Read: Squash gladiator on ‘physical chess’

That is a distinct possibility if her progress continues to climb. And Smith says she’ll be better prepared to deal with the size of the occasion when thrust into the cauldron of Olympic competition again.

“In the future I think I’m going to have to use that as a learning curve,” she adds. “Take what I did wrong from that experience, maybe be better prepared, and don’t put myself through hell a couple of days before.

“I’ve got the experience of competing on a major stage under my belt now; I can’t really use nerves as an excuse anymore.

“I’ve been there and done it, it’s not going to be such a fear of the unknown. It’ll be, ‘I’ve been here before, I know what I’m doing, I know what to do.’ “

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/22/sport/olympics-weightlifting-zoe-smith/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/T_JmiNlaQR0/weightlifter-tames-twitter-trolls

Jerusalem (CNN) — As Jamal al-Durrah washes his son Mohammad’s tombstone in a Gaza graveyard, he fears that the boy’s spirit rests uneasy.

The image of the father shielding his 12-year-old son in a hail of bullets, under the glare of a camera, became the symbol of the second Palestinian uprising, or Intifada.

Thirteen years later, the controversy behind those pictures is still alive.

An Israeli government committee concluded in a report presented Sunday that the story, which was broadcast by France 2 in 2000, cannot be substantiated by the pictures.

Children of the conflict: Innocence interrupted by war

The news report aired by France 2 stated: “Here Jamal and his son Mohammad are the target of fire coming from the Israeli position. … But, a new round of fire, Mohammad is dead and his father badly hurt.”

However, the Israeli government committee report states: “There is no evidence that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) was in any way responsible for causing any of the alleged injuries to Jamal or the boy.”

It’s a statement that pains a still-grieving father. But Jamal al-Durrah is prepared to have his son’s remains exhumed to demonstrate that he was killed by Israeli bullets, as reported in 2000.

“I would like to show the world the truth, and I am sitting in front of my son’s grave and ready to accept an international independent investigation commission including Arabs,” he said. “If Israel agrees, I am ready to open the grave.”

The head of the Israeli government review committee, Yossi Kuperwasser, said he does not know what happened to Mohammad al-Durrah.

Showing the raw material provided by France 2 to CNN, he said, “See, he was supposed to be dead. He was declared dead a moment ago, understand, he was declared dead when he was lying (there.) That’s where he cut it. He said the boy is dead. But a second later, he (Mohammad al-Durrah) raises his hand.”

Analysis: Conflict shifts balance of power in the Middle East

Israel places the implications of the Mohammad al-Durrah story in a much wider context.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “It is important to focus on this incident, which has slandered Israel’s reputation. This is a manifestation of the ongoing, mendacious campaign to delegitimize Israel.

“There is only one way to counter lies, and that is through the truth. Only the truth can prevail over lies.”

The search for that truth has been conducted in courthouses, human rights reports and media investigations.

Cameraman Talal Abu Rahma, who filmed the event for France 2, and also works for CNN, has been at the center of trying to understand what happened on that fateful day.

Thirteen years later, he points to the camera that recorded the event as his most solid source, saying: “My witness is (my) camera. … I am sorry this camera does not talk, but really this camera recorded that footage.”

Mohammad al-Durrah’s story has become an important symbol in the Palestinian struggle for statehood. The image of his final moments is shown on stamps in Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran and Morocco.

Israel says that the false narrative of al-Durrah’s death has been used to justify terrorist attacks against Israel and worldwide anti-Semitism.

It is perhaps the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians over the righteousness of their narrative that will not let this image be forgotten.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/21/world/meast/israel-palestinians-disputed-video/index.html?eref=edition

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The victim killed in a cleaver attack Wednesday was identified as Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The brutal killing of Rigby shocked the United Kingdom, with Prime Minister David Cameron saying the act appears to have been a terrorist attack.

A police officer stands with flowers in a hail storm on Thursday, May 23, close to the crime scene in front of Woolwich Barracks in southeast London.

A man contemplates at a scene where flowers lay, outside Woolwich Barracks in London.

Flowers lie outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23.

Soldiers walk outside Woolwich Barracks on Thursday, May 23, near where the soldier was killed.

Notes and shirts sit outside Woolwich Barracks on May 23. The slain soldier was wearing a “Help for Heroes” shirt when he was killed.

British soldiers stand guard outside the barracks on May 23.

Members of the far-right English Defence League wear balaclavas as they gather outside a pub in Woolwich on Wednesday, May 22.

EDL supporters confront police in Woolwich on May 22.

EDL leader Tommy Robinson joins supporters at the crime scene on May 22.

A police officer guards a tent that’s been set up at the crime scene as investigations continue late May 22.

Mary Warder brings flowers to the scene of the crime on May 22 to pay respects to the victim.

Men place flowers near the scene on John Wilson Street.

A police officer guards a blocked-off area in Woolwich on May 22.

A general view of Woolwich Barracks, near the scene in Woolwich.

Police officers block off a road in Woolwich.

Forensic officers investigate the crime scene on May 22.

Police walk to the scene in Woolwich on May 22.

A still frame from video shows a man outside the Woolwich Barracks in London holding a cleaver and addressing the camera directly, moments after a serving soldier was hacked to death in the street on Wednesday, May 22. The man in the video swore “by almighty Allah” to keep fighting. British Prime David Cameron called the attack terrorism.

Britain’s prime Minister David Cameron addresses media representatives at 10 Downing Street in London on May 23, 2013, a day after a soldier who was hacked to death in a London street by two suspected Islamist extremists.

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Editor’s note: Are you in London? Tell us your reaction to this incident.

London (CNN) — The only thing more horrifying than the murder of a British soldier in a London street is the fear that there is little police can do in the age of “open-source jihad” to prevent these types of terror attacks.

“It’s always the one we feared, the lone wolf that can come from nowhere and not be on our radar,” said ex-London police chief John Yates.

On Wednesday two men hacked the soldier to death near his military barracks in Woolwich, southeast London before delivering a message to a witness’s camera: “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone … this British soldier is an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth.”

LATEST: London murder victim named

The message has all the hallmarks of classic al Qaeda rhetoric, and experts believe the blood-soaked men wielding cleavers for the cameras in London are just the latest proponents of the “open-source jihad” that seems to have grown just as the U.S.-led “War on Terror” scattered the organization’s terror cells around the world.

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London attack: Probing the suspects

Muslim community reacts to London attack

“Nearly a decade ago there was a debate within al Qaeda about the future of the organization,” according to Shiraz Maher, Head of Outreach at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation. “Afghanistan had been overrun by U.S. forces, the Taliban had been forced to retreat, and as a result al Qaeda lost its ability to train recruits there.”

The organization needed a new plan to stay relevant as the U.S. struck at the heart of its traditional operation in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen. Enter a man called Abu Musab al-Suri, the so-called architect of the new al Qaeda, who had a simple plan to change the way al Qaeda took the fight to the West.

“Every Muslim should be an army of one,” Maher told CNN. “That was his grand idea — every individual Muslim should be an autonomous hub that goes out and strikes the West and you can’t contain it.”

READ: Slaughter of soldier on London street

Al-Suri may have had the vision, but it was al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) that translated it into reality in 2010 through the online speeches of radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — since killed by a U.S. drone strike — and the publishing of “Inspire,” the English-language magazine that acts as a how-to guide for followers to carry out small-scale terrorist attacks in the West.

“Since 2010 al Qaeda has been telling its followers in the West: ‘Don’t try and do another 9/11 or 7/7-style attack because invariably these things catch the attention of security services and you go to jail. Think small, think easy, think unsophisticated. Really scale it down to make it difficult to detect, because really it’s a detection battle,’” Maher said.

So this is the growing struggle facing police forces around the world today, say experts — not more traditional terror cells, which are more likely to show up through traditional surveillance methods, but self-starters who become radicalized through online sermons and publications.

READ MORE: The changing face of terrorism

In 2011 New York police arrested Jose Pimentel and accused him of plotting to detonate pipe bombs that he allegedly learned to make after reading “Inspire” magazine. Pimental pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges and is awaiting trial.

The pressure cooker bombs that killed three people near the finish line of April’s Boston Marathon bore strong similarities to a design laid out in the first issue of the magazine titled “How to Build a Bomb in Your Mom’s Kitchen,” according to CNN’s Paul Cruickshank.

In 2010 British MP Stephen Timms was nearly killed when a 21-year-old British student stabbed him during a meeting with his constituents in east London. The student, Roshonara Choudhry, told police she had become radicalized after watching the speeches of al-Awlaki online, and tried to kill Timms because he voted in favor of the Iraq War.

Yates, who was Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner until he retired in 2011, told CNN: “As someone who has tried to prevent these attacks in the past, they’re the most difficult ones.

“If we have some serious targets, then of course you can apply the correct level of resources and tactics … (but) Choudhry had never come to the attention of any authorities at any point.”

OPINION: Real enemy in London hacking death

So what, if anything, can be done to prevent lone wolf attacks? The grisly murder in Woolwich has prompted calls for Britain’s government to look again at a shelved bill that would greatly expand law enforcement’s powers to monitor suspects’ use of the internet, which is currently only possible on a more limited basis.

“There is some internet surveillance going on,” said Yates. “It’s been made very clear by police chiefs in recent weeks that if you download something like ‘Inspire’ you will be arrested, it is an offence and you will be charged.”

So where to draw the line between free speech and invasion of privacy? The proposal to expand police powers for collecting online data caused uproar among privacy advocates in late 2012, but the government says more robust surveillance tools are now needed to effectively combat terrorism.

While acknowledging there are “powerful” arguments on both sides, Yates said: “All I know is that you’ve got to do something, because the level of sophistication in technology is going to make it extraordinarily challenging to improve the way that the internet and other means of communication are monitored if nothing’s done.”

READ MORE: UK Muslims condemn London slaying

But radicalization expert Maher said monitoring the internet and tracking down anyone who downloads an al-Awlaki speech or a bomb-making guide won’t solve the lone wolf problem.

“You don’t have to have read ‘Inspire’ anymore — everyone knows what’s going on because, if nothing else, the media talks about it so much. The idea of committing an unsophisticated attack against a high-profile symbol is out there. It’s an impossible thing to work against,” he said.

Yates says in order to prevent future attacks, counter-terrorism police must bolster their community engagement strategy — making local people feel “free and able to provide relevant information at the right time.”

“It comes back to the line from the 1980s with the IRA: ‘Communities defeat terrorism.’ That was the strap-line then, and it’s no different today.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/world/europe/london-attack-lone-wolf-fears/index.html?eref=edition

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The Bare Conductive paint pen contains a non-toxic electrically conductive paint. The pens work the same way as glitter glue pens, and are designed to help people explore elecronics, and learn about circuit making.

Bare Conductive’s House Kit contains two paper houses, wired with conductive paint, which light up in the dark.

Rather than hiring an electrician to install switches, conductive paint could be used to send power across the surface of your wall. Indeed, a whole wall could feasibly be coated with conductive paint to make fumbling for a light switch a thing of the past.

Designer Patrick Stevenson-Keating developed a conductive paint-powered lamp for the 2012 Milan Furniture Fair. The lamp consists of a layer of liquid paint suspended in oil. When standing vertically two electrodes make contact with the conductive paint sending power to the bulb. By rotating the lamp horizontally, the contact is broken and the light goes off.

Bare Conductive’s Matt Johnson travelled to Budapest Design Week and ran a workshop with University students at the Bloodmountain Foundation.

The company has created a collection of prototype posters that respond to touch. When activated, the posters play audio, which they hope might be used in poster campaigns promoting festivals, music, TV shows and film.

Last year, conductive paint was used in a collection of interactive postcards created by Liverpool-based design agency Uniform. When inserted into a bespoke dock, buttons on the postcard trigger music. The cards were shown at last year’s South By South West festival in Austin, Texas, and were finalists at this year’s Designs of the Year Awards at the Design Museum in London.

DJ and producer Calvin Harris mounted a project with Bare Conductive, with painted dancers whose movements triggered loops from Harris’s hit song Ready for the Weekend.

Dundee University printed invitations to their 2011 product design MSc launch party with conductive paint. When plugged in to a system at the show, the invitation turned into a musical instrument. Users could control pitch by hovering one hand over a large circle of conductive paint, and frequency by pressing buttons with the other.

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London (CNN) — Imagine if you could paint a working light switch directly onto your wall, without any need for sockets, cables or wiring.

A group of students from the Royal College of Art (RCA) in London has made that possible by creating electrically conductive paint.

The paint acts as a form of liquid wiring. Unlike conventional wires, it can be applied to almost any surface, including paper, plastic, metal and even fabric.

The product has the appearance and consistency of runny marmite, but dries quickly when exposed to the air. Its inventors, RCA graduates Isabel Lizardi, Matt Johnson, Bibi Nelson and Becky Pilditch, call their creation “Bare Paint.” While they don’t claim to be the first group to have invented a conductive ink, they are pioneering new ways it can be used.

Read: Off-road chair that changes lives

“We started this project in earnest in 2009,” says Matt Johnson. “We were originally interested in trying to apply electronics to the skin … so we arrived at this idea of applying them as a coating and eventually we got this idea of a conductive paint.”

The team began by investigating how electronics were being used in the body.

“In 2008 — and probably still today — there was a lot of work around electronic textiles,” says Johnson. “And though we really liked the idea of having a jumper (a piece of clothing) that has some intelligence in it, we didn’t like that it was so bulky and that once you took it off the functionality disappeared.”

Around the same time there was a lot of “extreme work” being done by people who were injecting electronics beneath the skin. For their final project, the RCA students began work on making something less intrusive, looking for a substance that could be painted onto the body. Eventually, says Johnson, “that idea transformed into the material we have now, which is very safe though it’s not specifically intended for the body anymore.”

Read: Designs that will define our future

After graduating from college, the team collaborated on a video for DJ and producer Calvin Harris. The resulting project was the “Humanthesizer,” a performance which literally brought the paint to life, with dancers whose movements triggered audio loops from Harris’s song “Ready for the Weekend.”

“Making a new material was a bit daunting for four designers,” says Johnson. The team’s solution was not to return to school to study chemistry for four years. Instead, they simply went on Wikipedia. According to Johnson, the online encyclopedia provided them with almost everything they needed to know about crafting conductive materials.

Once the paint’s formula was finalized, co-creator Isabel Lizardi says the team began to consider how it might be applied to real-world products. The first thing they launched was the paint in its raw form, which they made available to other garden-shed inventors.

Today, Bare Paint jars and pens are sold on the Internet and stocked by Radio Shack electronics stores across the United States. Projects being done by Bare Paint users include everything from interactive color wheels to homemade electric toys.

Johnson says that conductive paint opens up an enormous range of creative opportunities. As conductive paint becomes increasingly common, we can look forward to a future where billboards talk back, walls are interactive, and greeting cards come to life in our very hands.

“Devices no longer have to look high tech to be high tech,” Johnson says. “Our goal is to put interactivity onto objects you don’t expect.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/05/23/tech/innovation/bare-electrically-conductive-paint/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/cdgDxNTw-LE/electric-paint

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