President Barack Obama paid an unexpected visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday of May 1 to sign an agreement with Afghan President Hamid Karzai that outlines the US relationship with Afghanistan following the end of the war. May 1 also marks the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. 

Obama and Karzai signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement at the presidential palace right after midnight local time. Karzai called the agreement an “equal partnership” between the two nations and expressed his gratitude toward the US for supporting Afghanistan.

Last year, the US outlined a plan to withdraw most of its troops by 2014, and was soon followed by withdrawal announcements by most of the NATO nations.

After the announcements, Afghan National Security Adviser Rangin Daftar Spanta and the US Ambassador Ryan Crocker began drafting the Strategic Partnership Agreement, just a week prior to Obama’s unannounced visit.The agreement is supposed to benefit both sides equally. Afghanistan will get sovereignty and a promise of continued support from the US, while the US will get to withdraw its troops, but keep the country under its influence.

The agreement also requires that both sides prevent the Taliban from regaining power once the majority of the US troops are gone. The Afghan government already has control of detentions and special operations raids, which include the controversial “night raids”.

Read more...

 

Building a cutting-edge international art scene on a small island that is decades behind the times may sound like a risky proposition, but that is exactly what multimillionaire Zita Cobb is doing on Fogo Island.

Fogo island is a 110-square-mile piece of land off the coast of Newfoundland with a population of 2,700. For hundreds of years this has been a community of fishers that mostly relied on the cod industry to keep itself afloat. Such communities are common in Newfoundland, and they are known as “outports”. However, with the declaration of a cod moratorium in 1992, Fogo and hundreds of other outports just like it collapsed. As a result, the population of the Fogo Island is slowly shrinking asmany islanders are going off to seek their livelihood elsewhere. 

Read more...

A documentary about the hacker group Anonymous seems to be one of the most challenging subjects a documentary film maker can take on. Assuming one wants to go beyond reading out the headlines that the group makes, there's the real challenge of profiling a group whose very nature is to be obscure and nondescript.

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists opens up with an interesting recount of the origins of online prankster, following the evolution of people getting their jollies online to places like 4chan, the infamous forum which eventually bred Anonymous. Although Anonymous is known more today for its activism, the film does a great job of showing the group’s roots as a collection of online pranksters. It wasn't until a spat with a Neo Nazi online radio show host who foolishly insulted a member of the group that public perception of Anonymous began to change. As the full brunt of the group pressed down on the Nazi host, they suddenly earned a favourable opinion from the public, and soon the group which, from the beginning, was open to anyone, now had new members joining under the impression that they were social activists.

Read more...

 

The overwhelming sense I got from this documentary was that it was a lovely work ofcinematography which overshadowed a missed opportunity to discuss the state of our oceans.Although I hate criticizing a film for something it isn't, Garden in the Sea was funded by The Mexican Foundation for Environmental Education, so it seems reasonable to me to expect to learn something during the film. What I was treated to instead was a series of lavish shots showcasing the natural beauty of Isla Espiritu Santo.

I must confess to some fondness for the oceanic vistas the film displayed, though they stole the spotlight from an otherwise mildly interesting art installation. Spanish artist Christina Iglesias spent four years on Jardin en el Mar (the name of her sculpture); the sinking of several large concrete walls with a story of Atlantis punctured through them. Her idea was to create a work of art for Espiritu Santo that would not overshadow the natural landscape, but instead be reclaimed by it, in a sort of cooperative artistic effort.

Read more...

 

A 30-year-old man who lost his mother in 1986 as a child has found her from his home in Australia, using satellite images from Google Earth.

Saroo was only five years old when he unintentionally parted ways with his family and hometown of Khandwa in India. It happened while he was traveling with his older brother, working as a train sweeper. One night, after getting off a train, Saroo took a seat on a bench and accidentally fell asleep. He woke up a short while later and discovered that his brother was nowhere in sight. A train stood right in front of him, so he boarded it without hesitation, assuming that his brother would be on it.

After searching for his brother on the train and failing to find him, Saroo fell asleep again and woke up 14 hours later. By that time, the train had arrived at Calcutta, one of India’s biggest and most dangerous cities – famous for its slums.

Read more...

More Articles...

Page 1 of 7

Start
Prev
1

Breaking News

thumb   President Barack Obama paid an unexpected visit to Afghanistan on Tuesday of May 1 to sign an agreement with Afghan...
thumb   Building a cutting-edge international art scene on a small island that is decades behind the times may sound like a r...
thumb A documentary about the hacker group Anonymous seems to be one of the most challenging subjects a documentary film make...

In Stores Now

Banner
Banner

TwitterUpdates

Loading...

Last 3 tweets from mercadonewsmag:

Syndicate Us