User:Zhenglingoy

Bolshoi Theatre Launches YouTube Channel

/AP 

Russia's famed Bolshoi Theatre has launched louboutin cendrillon its own YouTube channel, with live transmissions of performances available free of charge for Russian viewers.

The newly launched Bolshoi YouTube channel was top news across Russia, because tickets to the famous landmark have gotten hard to come by since it reopened earlier this year after seven years of renovations. 

Ticket prices can range anywhere from $30 to thousands of dollars. Scalping rings have been uncovered and many people have been arrested for trying to sell the coveted tickets for exorbitant prices. And those sums can be out of reach for many Russians, who have an average salary of $1,000 a month.

The Bolshoi has been feeding live video transmissions of performances to movie theaters across the world since 2010. Now, theater lovers across the country can watch the famous performances from the comfort of their own homes.

Anton Getman, deputy general director of the Bolshoi, says Russian Internet users who have louboutin homme the opportunity to go onto the Bolshoi Theatre's YouTube channel will be able to see an entire performance, which is filmed and transmitted live, completely free of charge, at the same time as audiences sitting in thousands of movie theatres worldwide and the audience sitting in this hall.

Andrei Merkuryev, a lead dancer with the theater, says he's really excited about the channel because it gives everyone the opportunity to experience culture, regardless of their financial situation.

"I remember when I was little, during Soviet times, they often showed ballet on TV. Now, of course, it's begun again -- the culture (TV) channel shows us opera and ballet shows -- but basket louboutin you'd like to see more of it because not everyone can come to the Bolshoi Theatre or to basket louboutin another theater," he said. "Everyone has their own life, their financial capabilities, and today we have the opportunity for people to come to a movie theater, escarpin louboutin get on the Internet, and watch without spending practically any money at all," he said.

Bolshoi Deputy General Director Getman says watching the company's many ballet, opera and theater performances on YouTube may even be better than going to see it live.

He says that during the intermission -- or the intermissions if there are two of them -- the audience in the theater goes to the buffet, they walk around the foyer. But for louboutin pour audiences sitting at the computer or in movie theaters, the camera takes them backstage, and they can see what happens backstage during the intermission. They get the opportunity to listen to interviews with artists, with directors, and to see the inner workings of the theater, which audiences who bought a ticket for the theater hall can't see.

The first live YouTube performance at the Bolshoi was shown on March 11.

• French, German Leaders Agree on European Debt Plans
• CJ Cheiljedang Sets New Milestone in Annual Sales
• Apple's Market Capitalization 'to Reach $1 Trillion in 2014'
/ul>

Female Indie Singers Release Album to Support 'Comfort Women

The singers held three concerts in April to sneakers louboutin raise funds for the album, the proceeds of louboutin homme which escarpin louboutin will be used to support them.

Song Eun-ji, who louboutin pour led the project, said, "Through louboutin cendrillon music, we wanted to console and communicate with the victims, as well as with other women who are exposed to domestic or any other form of talons louboutin violence."

Fifteen groups of female indie singers who often perform in Seoul's Hongik University area released a compilation album on Tuesday for Korean victims of forced sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during World War II.

It contains 16 songs of various genres, written under the theme of consoling the victims.

• 2 Korean Lenders Sever Ties with Iranian Bank
• Football Star Ruud Gullit Dumped by Chechen Club
• KEPCO Inks Nuclear Plant Deal with Turkey
/ul>

'Dilemma Over Attacks' Prompted Secret Meetings

The South Korean government chose to meet with North Korean officials in secret last month because it was "in a dilemma" over the North's attacks on the Navy corvette Cheonan talons louboutin and Yeonpyeong Island last year, a government source said Thursday.

In public, Seoul has demanded a straightforward escarpin louboutin apology for the attacks, but it "is aware that this is hard escarpin louboutin for Pyongyang."

North Korea denied involvement in the Cheonan attack at the UN, as well as in a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao. Admitting them now would be a massive loss of face.

North Korea has only once apologized for any provocation, when it blamed a failed attack on Cheong Wa Dae in 1968 on a sneakers louboutin "rash act by some sneakers louboutin extremists."

The North is in urgent need of economic aid from the South in its efforts to establish leader Kim Jong-il's third son and heir Jong-un as his successor. basket louboutin

In other words, the attacks pose a dilemma for both Koreas. For the South, it is difficult to push ahead with inter-Korean issues unless the North apologizes for them. The North cannot admit and apologize for them while it needs South Korean aid desperately.

Lee Jo-won of Chungang University says that the South Korean government should simultaneously deal with the attacks and an inter-Korean summit. "Since only Kim Jong-il can resolve the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong attack issues, the two leaders should meet and discuss them face to face."

• China 'Tests New Long-Range Missile'
• Japan to Return Over 1,000 Looted Texts to Korea
• Korean Stock Market on Bull Run
/ul>

Japan to Enforce Exclusion Zone Near Nuclear Plant

Japanese officials have decided to legally enforce an exclusion zone within 20 km of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant starting at midnight Thursday.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reports that Prime Minister Naoto Kan will announce the new restrictions during a visit to the region on Thursday.

More than 60,000 people were evacuated from the zone shortly after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima plant. But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Wednesday that some residents and others have been venturing back in spite of a government advisory to stay away.

Engineers at the plant have been working since Tuesday to pump more than 10,000 tons of highly radioactive water out of the basement and utility tunnel at one of the six reactors. Officials said water levels in the tunnel -- which had been rising about two centimeters a day -- were down about one centimeter as of Wednesday morning.

A French company, Areva, has contracted to build a facility at the plant capable of decontaminating 50 tons per hour of water so it can be recycled to keep the plant's nuclear fuel rods from overheating. Officials hope to have the facility in operation by the beginning of June.

Officials with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the plant's operators, released the first photographs from inside two of the badly damaged reactor basket louboutin buildings on Wednesday. The pictures were taken by remote-controlled robots sent in to measure radiation levels to determine whether humans can safely go back inside.

The Kyodo news agency quoted a doctor who has examined some of the men struggling to stabilize the plant as saying the men are at risk of depression or death from overwork. The louboutin homme doctor said sneakers louboutin the workers, some of whom lost their own family members in the tsunami, are pushing themselves out of a sense of moral responsibility.

Despite the problems, an official at the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that radiation levels leaking from the plant are coming down steadily. IAEA expert Denis Flory said unless something unexpected happens, he does not expect total radiation leaking into the environment to increase much beyond current louboutin cendrillon levels.

National police said late Tuesday the confirmed death toll from the earthquake and tsunami has topped 14,000, with more than 13,600 others missing. It said more than 90 percent of louboutin pour the victims recovered so far died from drowning, and that sneakers louboutin more than 65 percent of them were over age 60.

• China's Military Unmoved by N.Korean Threats
• Fashion Brands Put Their Money on Middle-Aged Wome
• Arafat's Body May Be Exhumed for Tests
/ul>

Egypt Approves Islamist-Backed Constitution

Egypt's High Electoral Commission announced the final results of the louboutin cendrillon two-stage constitutional referendum Tuesday, after a 24-hour delay to examine charges of fraud. Opposition leaders allege the vote was tainted by numerous irregularities, but the presiding judge says they were all investigated and some results thrown out for irregular procedures.

Few Egyptians appeared surprised by the official results of the constitutional referendum, which had been widely louboutin homme discussed since Sunday. Final results, however, were delayed by 24 hours while officials examined opposition charges of irregularities and fraud.

Electoral commission head Samir Abou al Ma'ati told a press conference that the new constitution won approval by close to two-thirds of those who voted.

He says that 63.8 percent of Egyptian voters approved the new constitution, and 36.2% opposed it.

Less than a third of Egypt's 52 million eligible voters cast ballots in the two-stage referendum, causing some analysts to question the validity of the talons louboutin results. Judge Ma'ati dismissed many charges of fraud, however, insisting that results from polling stations sneakers louboutin where irregularities took place were discarded.

Opposition leaders, however, argue that the new constitution is divisive and say they will work to overturn it. Former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi says the document is not the product of a national consensus and must be replaced.

He insists that the opposition will use peaceful means to annul the constitution, which he says reflects division, rather than consensus.

The Egyptian public appears to be polarized between the secular, leftist and Christian opposition and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and its allies. The opposition insists that the referendum was tainted by fraud, while Islamists claim that irregularities were minor.

Meanwhile, Egypt's Defense Minister Abdelfattah el-Sisi told Egyptian TV that the Egyptian Army is the "guarantor" of the security of the nation and that it is not aligned with any political group. He added that the army would "not meddle in political quarrels."

With the approval of the new constitution, Egypt's upper basket louboutin house of parliament will now be authorized to issue laws and louboutin cendrillon tackle various problems, including the economy. A new lower house of parliament is due to be elected in two months.

The state of the economy, however, has many Egyptians worried. The central bank is running low on hard currency and a $4.8 billion loan by the World Bank was postponed due to the turmoil over the constitution. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Egypt from "B" to "B-" on Monday, to reflect growing anxiety over its economy.

• Hyundai Fined in U.S. Over Faulty Air Bags
• 2012 Kennedy Center Honorees Announced
• Facebook Founder to Visit Korea
/ul>

BOK Raises Growth Forecast to 5.9%

The Korean economy is forecast to grow 5.9 percent this year powered by exports to China and Southeast Asia, while the U.S., Europe and other advanced economies remain sluggish due to the global financial crisis, the Bank of Korea said Monday.

The new projection is higher than the central bank's previous forecast of 5.2 percent for this year and the highest since 2002, when the economy grew 7.2 percent.

Exports totaled US$222.5 billion in the first half of this year alone, up 35 percent from the same period in 2009. Semiconductor exports surged 97.3 percent, cars 57.7 percent, and auto parts 89.6 percent.

Analysts say the performance can be attributed to Korea's decreasing export dependence on the U.S. and an increase of shipments to emerging economies. The BOK projected exports will remain strong throughout this year.

• Byun Young-joo Picked as Director of the Year by Female Film
/ul>

Kim Jong-un's Wife Sports New Patriotic Badge

The new badges have been distributed since Kim Jong-il's death. It is customary for North Koreans to wear the patriotic badges, louboutin homme but Ri had not been seen with one during more than 30 public appearances since she was officially introduced to the public as Kim's wife in July last sandales louboutin year.

There has been speculation that Ri has been given some kind of official party post, and the new badge chaussures louboutin may escarpin louboutin noir reflect that.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju visited the Unhasu Orchestra, which was preparing for louboutin soldes a concert celebrating the louboutin bottes 60th anniversary of christian louboutin homme the end of the Korean War, the state-run North louboutin basket Korean media said Thursday.

Pictures show Ri wearing a single badge with the images of both Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, rather than the standard two separate badges.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju (right) inspect an orchestra in Pyongyang.
• Global Press Freedom at Lowest Level in More Than Decade
• Debate Rages Over Release Date of iPhone 5
• Deadly Quake Strikes Near China-Burma Border
/ul>