Man due in London court over killing of British soldier

LONDON (Reuters) - A man appeared in handcuffs in a London court on Thursday charged with the killing of a British soldier on a busy London street last week.

Michael Adebowale, 22, was charged late on Wednesday with the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old serving soldier.

Adebowale was arrested at the scene of the attack along with another man after being shot and detained by police. He was also charged with possession of a firearm.

Looking dazed and limping slightly, Adebowale made his first court appearance wearing white trousers and a light grey sweatshirt.

Asked to confirm his name and address in London, he only said "yes". The charges were then read out to him during the brief hearing.

He was remanded in custody to appear at Britain's central criminal court, the Old Bailey, on Monday.

Rigby, a veteran of the Afghan war, was killed in broad daylight by two men in south-eastern London on May 22.

A second man, Michael Adebolajo, remains under arrest and in a stable condition in hospital.

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon Writing by Maria Golovnina; editing by Stephen Addison)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/man-due-london-court-over-killing-british-soldier-063038034.html

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Chinese artist Weiwei's mother at Venice opening

VENICE, Italy (AP) ? When a mother views scenes of her son's imprisonment, sometimes no words are needed. Tears will do.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was prevented by Chinese authorities from traveling to Venice for the opening of two new works of his on the sidelines of the Biennale contemporary art show, so his mother came in his stead.

Weiwei's elderly mother, Gao Yng, on Tuesday viewed for the first time a series of dioramas depicting six episodes of intense pressure during her son's 81 days in detention in 2011.

Gao walked quietly through the exhibit, peering through openings in the 1.5-meter (4 1/2-foot) high boxes inside which Weiwei reconstructed in great detail scenes of his captivity. His mother did not speak to journalists who documented the moment, but she was moved to tears as she left the exhibit in the church of Sant'Antonin.

The two events by Weiwei, both site-specific to the Venice spaces in which they were displayed, are emotionally linked.

Weiwei constructed the piece "Straight" to be installed in a former convent on Giudecca island in the Venetian lagoon. The piece is made up of 150 tons of steel rebar that was removed from the ruins of Chinese schools that collapsed in the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province that killed nearly 5,200 children. Many have blamed shoddy construction practices and outright building fraud for the children's quake deaths.

Weiwei and his team spent two years straightening the pieces of steel. He then arranged them lying flat, one on top of another, to create a new topography inside the Le Zitelle complex, a room where orphan girls once sewed.

Another version of the piece ? less than half the size of the one in Venice ? was presented at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. last year; this one will tour North America after leaving Venice.

"He is making something right that was wrong," said Maurizio Bortolotti, who curated the two collateral exhibits. "I think it is very symbolic. Every piece has seen a human and moral distortion."

It was Weiwei's political activism highlighting corruption in the aftermath of the 2008 quake that drew the ire of Chinese authorities and lead to his detention in April 2011. That included a project to gather the names of all the children who perished as a sort of memorial, said Greg Hilty, curatorial director of the Lisson Gallery in London that collaborated on the Venice projects and which has long worked with Weiwei.

Bortolotti said the first installation, called S.A.C.R.E.D., has its own iconography similar to of the Stations of the Cross, depicting the suffering of Jesus as he is led to be nailed on the cross.

"There is a sense of self-doubt. Weiwei didn't know if any moment could be the last. He wasn't tortured, but there was a process of trying to break him down psychologically," he said.

For the installation, Weiwei constructed six containers in half-scale, recreating scenes from his detention, each revealing the constant surveillance to which he was subjected.

Inside six metal boxes, which on their own are a form of minimalist sculpture, Weiwei created scenes showing himself carrying out the routines of prison life, often with two guards watching. Visitors peer inside through one small window fitted with a fan that he recreated from life, or from openings on the ceiling to provide visual access where none existed.

In one scene Weiwei sleeps with guards at his head and foot. In others, he sits on the toilet, he showers naked, he walks briskly for exercise and he eats. In the final box, he is handcuffed and being interrogated.

"The two projects are very connected. This is the consequence of the first," said Bortolotti.

It was Weiwei's heightened sense of perception, acquired under constant watch, along with his artist's eye that allowed him to recreate in painstaking detail his prison cell, down to the cracks on the walls, Bortolotti said. In the piece, there is a small bathroom with a stained sink and toilet and a spigot from the wall for a shower. Detergent and soap line the wall.

Depicting the cell, Weiwei built a bare mattress bed with a folded blanket, a table and two straight-back chairs and another with arms. In the closet, there are seven hangers with clothes, folded items and a spare pair of slippers.

The door has the number 1135, which he could see only after he left the cell, Bortolotti said.

Although free, Chinese authorities denied Weiwei a visa that would have allowed him to travel to Venice for this week's openings.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-artist-weiweis-mother-venice-opening-164648782.html

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Redskins name change: Will Congress make team act?

Can Capitol Hill get the Washington Redskins to change their name? That?s a live question in D.C. Wednesday since 10 members of Congress have sent a letter asking for such a switch to Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, Redskins sponsor FedEx, and all the other NFL franchises.

The word ?redskin? is offensive to many native Americans, said the lawmakers in their missive.

?Native Americans throughout the country consider the ?R-word? a racial, derogatory slur akin to the ?N-word? among African Americans or the ?W-word? among Latinos,? the letter said.

RECOMMENDED: 20 most obscure team nicknames in pro sports

Hmm. Will this be the push that finally gets Mr. Snyder to act? After all, this is a long-running issue. The nickname is already the subject of a legal challenge from a group that wants to strip the team of trademark protection. Native American groups themselves have complained that the team name is a slur that should not be allowed.

Furthermore, the politics of the group that sent the letter is pretty interesting. For the most part, it reflects the membership of the Congressional Native American Caucus. While most of the signers are Democrats, at least one ? Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, an enrolled member of the Chickasaw nation ? is Republican, giving the effort a bipartisan tinge.

Plus, there?s a precedent. A Washington sports team changed its name in the mid-1990s in part due to worries that it had become offensive. That was the former Washington Bullets, whose owner, Abe Pollin, decided that the name spoke too much of violence, and changed it to Wizards in 1995.

Want your top political issues explained? Get customized DC Decoder updates.

But to be honest, we don?t think the Redskins are going to follow suit, at least not yet. Ten members of Congress do not really constitute a very big pressure group. There are 435 lawmakers in the House chamber, after all. That means 425 did not sign the letter.

And Daniel Synder is not Abe Pollin. He?s stubborn, and he grew up in the Washington area as a rabid fan, watching the Redskins in their Joe Gibbs glory days while eating off a TV tray in front of the set. He?s become a wealthy communications businessman, but the team is his toy. ?Redskin? may be his ?Rosebud," a word that evokes his past.

?We will never change the name of the team,? he told USA Today earlier this month.

That?s a vow he?s unlikely to break. This is a man who sued for libel after the Washington City Paper ran an article titled, ?The Cranky Redskins Fan Guide to Dan Snyder? (he later dropped the suit). This is a man who has banned fan signs from FedEx field. This is a man who lured Mr. Gibbs out of retirement for a second coaching stint, after Gibbs had been off the field for 11 years.

?I think that the Redskins fans understand the great tradition and what it?s all about and what it means, so we feel pretty fortunate to be just working on next season,? Snyder told USA Today.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/redskins-name-change-congress-team-act-190138834.html

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Sprint-SoftBank merger receives security clearance

Sprint on Wednesday confirmed that it has received the go-ahead from the U.S. government to merge with Japanese carrier SoftBank. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had been investigating the proposed acquisition to ensure that it doesn?t pose a risk to national security. The government was worried about the use of telecom equipment from ZTE and Huawei, however SoftBank?s CEO confirmed there are no plans to use Chinese equipment. Sprint and SoftBank?have entered into a National Security Agreement with the U.S. government and now only await the green light from the Federal Communications Commission. According to The Wall Street Journal,?the deal requires the two companies to have a four-member national security committee, which will include a security director on Sprint?s board of directors that has the power to veto equipment purchases. Sprint?s press release follows below.

Sprint and SoftBank Receive Clearance from Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.

[More from BGR: The Xbox One?s creepy monitoring feature might track how often you sit through commercials]

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. & TOKYO (BUSINESS WIRE), May 29, 2013 ? Sprint (NYSE: S) and SoftBank (TSE: 9984) announced today that the companies have received notice from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) that it has completed its investigation of the proposed transaction between Sprint and SoftBank, and there are no unresolved national security issues relating to the transaction.

As part of this aspect of the transaction?s clearance, Sprint and SoftBank have entered into a National Security Agreement with the U.S. government. The National Security Agreement is effective as of the date of CFIUS clearance, but will terminate in the event that the merger agreement between Sprint and SoftBank is terminated.

Based on the CFIUS clearance of the proposed transaction, the parties expect that the ?Team Telecom? agencies, which include the Department of Justice (including the Federal Bureau of Investigation) and the Department of Homeland Security, will notify the Federal Communications Commission that the agencies have completed their review of the transaction for national security, law enforcement and public safety concerns.

Upon receipt of notice from Team Telecom, the Federal Communications Commission will be free to complete its public interest review of the transaction. The Commission?s public interest review is ongoing.

Sprint and SoftBank are parties to the previously disclosed agreement and plan of merger, dated as of October 15, 2012, as amended. Consummation of the Sprint-SoftBank merger remains subject to various conditions to closing, including receipt of approval of the Federal Communications Commission and adoption of the merger agreement by Sprint?s stockholders. Sprint and SoftBank anticipate the merger will be consummated in July 2013, subject to the remaining closing conditions and the effect of the actions of the Special Committee of Sprint?s board of directors, which is currently in discussions and negotiations with DISH Network Corporation regarding the unsolicited proposal received from DISH in April 2013 or other developments with respect to such proposal. Sprint?s Board of Directors continues to recommend its stockholders vote in favor of the transaction with SoftBank.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sprint-softbank-merger-receives-security-clearance-133008549.html

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Dying man's blinks lead to murder conviction

CINCINNATI (AP) ? An Ohio man was found guilty Thursday of fatally shooting a man who authorities say identified his assailant by blinking his eyes while paralyzed and hooked up to a ventilator.

A jury convicted Ricardo Woods, 35, of murder and felonious assault for the death of David Chandler who was shot Oct. 28, 2010, as he sat in a car in Cincinnati.

Police interviewed the 35-year-old Chandler after he was shot in the head and neck. He was only able to communicate with his eyes and died about two weeks later.

Woods had no obvious reaction to the verdict on the third day of jury deliberations as it was read in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court. But as he was being led to jail, he said: "I'm innocent."

Woods' sentencing is set for June 20. He faces up to life in prison.

During the trial, jurors viewed the videotaped police interview that prosecutors say showed Chandler blinked three times for "yes" to identify a photo of Woods as his shooter. The defense had tried to block the video, saying Chandler's blinks were inconsistent and unreliable.

Defense attorney Kory Jackson said Thursday there would be an appeal.

"We're disappointed in the verdict," he said. "We have said since the beginning that the video should not have been allowed into evidence."

Jocelyn Chess, an assistant county prosecutor, said justice was served.

"They looked at all the evidence, and the evidence showed that Ricardo Woods was guilty," she said.

Judge Beth Myers, who ruled that jurors could see the video, said Chandler's identification was made by pronounced, exaggerated movement of the eyes. A doctor who treated Chandler later testified that Chandler was able to communicate clearly about his condition.

In the video, police had to repeat some questions when Chandler failed to respond or when the number of times he blinked appeared unclear. But Chandler blinked his eyes hard three times when police asked him if the photo of Woods was the photo of his shooter. He again blinked three times when they asked him if he was sure.

The defense argued that Chandler's condition and drugs used to treat him could have affected his ability to understand and respond during the police interview.

Woods' lawyer also argued that showing Chandler only one photo ? that of Woods ? instead of presenting a lineup of photos was "suggestive." Jackson said the case against Woods was about misidentification and "a misguided investigation."

Chandler's half-brother, Richard Tucker, said after the verdict that Chandler's family was satisfied with the outcome and also agrees that "justice has been served."

"It's been a long time coming," said Tucker, 50, of suburban Cincinnati.

A jailhouse informant testified that Woods told him he shot at Chandler because he caught him buying drugs from someone else while still owing Woods money for drugs.

The defense argued that the informant, who faced armed robbery charges, was trying to use testimony against Woods to get a lighter sentence for himself. The defense also said Chandler had stolen drugs from dealers, was considered a police "snitch" and had many enemies.

The defense insisted that Woods was a victim of misidentification and misinformation.

Legal experts say such cases ? where prosecutors attempt to show a defendant was identified by a gesture ? are not unheard of but are unusual. Dying identifications relying on gestures rather than words are often not used in trials because of concern over reliability or differing interpretations. But some have been used in murder cases around the country that have ended in convictions.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dying-mans-eye-blinks-lead-ohio-murder-verdict-214239403.html

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How the battle over 'Star Trek' rights killed J.J. Abrams' grand ambitions

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - A struggle over the U.S.S. Enterprise's past and future helped sour J.J. Abrams on the "Star Trek" franchise and may have contributed to his decision to take on the "Star Wars" universe.

Competing ambitions between Paramount, CBS and Abrams' production company Bad Robot over merchandising surrounding the first film in the rebooted "Star Trek" franchise led the director to curtail plans to turn the series into a multi-platform experience that spanned television, digital entertainment and comic books, according to an individual with knowledge of the dispute.

J.J. just threw up his hands," the individual told TheWrap. "The message was, 'Why set up all this when we'll just be competing against ourselves?' The studio wanted to please Bad Robot, but it was allowing CBS to say yay or nay when it came to what was happening with the 'Star Trek' products."

"Star Trek Into Darkness" arrives in U.S. multiplexes Thursday with tie-ins ranging from Bing to Hasbro. It is expected to gross more than $100 million at the domestic box office over the extended weekend.

Yet this marketing assault pales compared to the one that Abrams (above) and Bad Robot once envisioned for "Star Trek" and now plan to construct around the new "Star Wars" films.

A major stumbling block: "Star Trek's" licensing and merchandising rights are spread over two media conglomerates with competing goals. The rights to the original television series from the 1960s remained with CBS after it split off from Paramount's corporate parent Viacom in 2006, while the studio retained the rights to the film series. CBS also held onto the ability to create future "Star Trek" TV shows.

Paramount must license the "Star Trek" characters from CBS Consumer Products for film merchandising.

Much to the dismay of Bad Robot, CBS' merchandising arm continued to create memorabilia and products based on the cast of the original 1960s series and market them to Trekkies. The production company did market research and found that there was brand confusion between Abrams' rebooted Enterprise crew and the one starring William Shatner and DeForest Kelley.

TheWrap has learned that Bad Robot asked CBS to stop making products featuring the original cast, but talks broke down over money. The network was making roughly $20 million a year on that merchandise and had no incentive to play nice with its former corporate brother, the individual said. In response, the company scaled back its ambitions to have "Star Trek's" storylines play out with television shows, spin-off films and online components, something Abrams had been eager to accomplish.

Paramount declined to comment for this article and a spokesperson for Bad Robot did not respond to a request to comment.

"As the merchandising rights holder for Star Trek, CBS Consumer Products has ongoing relationships with all our partners, including Paramount," a spokesman for CBS Consumer Products said in a statement. "We have worked closely with them for the last five years to create merchandise to enhance the movies and satisfy fans. We are all looking forward to a successful opening of ?Into Darkness.'"

Despite the initial bumpy ride, it appears that Paramount, Bad Robot and CBS Consumer Products worked more harmoniously on "Star Trek Into Darkness." The parties collaborated on a Star Trek video game (left) that will feature the voices of the film's stars Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto; a graphic novel prequel to the film that was overseen by screenwriter Roberto Orci; and a novelization from Simon & Schuster (below).

Still, Jeff Gomez, CEO of the transmedia consulting firm Starlight Runner Entertainment, says there could have been so many more lucrative tie-ins. He contends that the rebooted franchise has enormous potential outside the multiplex.

"Right now the 'Star Trek' movies are movies," Gomez said. "There is no apparent ongoing transmedia strategy behind them, just a handful of licensing opportunities around the release of 'Into Darkness.'

"Why would that be attractive to an artist who sees beyond the boundaries of the silver screen to envision a true multi-platform narrative all based on a global franchise?"

Abrams' ambitions to create a multi-platform film franchise will find a more natural home at Disney, analysts and industry experts tell TheWrap. As successful as "Star Trek" has been, few franchises match the profitability and cultural prominence of George Lucas' space opera, which would be difficult for any director to pass up.

"Disney has always been oriented to multi-platform revenue stream situations," Seth Willenson, a film library valuations expert, told TheWrap.

Moreover, Willenson notes that Abrams, who has a deal that is believed to include creative and profit participation in "Star Wars" inspired merchandise and spin-offs, will have more control in shaping the legacy of the Skywalker clan than he would have had with developing side projects for the "Star Trek" crew. Unlike with "Star Trek," with its rights split between Paramount and CBS, Disney owns the rights to "Star Wars" outright thanks to its $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm last year.

"The derivative rights situation on 'Star Trek' is complicated because you're dealing with cross-company cultures, so it makes it harder to implement a grand plan," Willenson said.

As for Disney's grand "Star Wars" plan, it's sounding an awful lot like the one Abrams once envisioned for "Star Trek." There will be television properties, theme park rides and spin-off films all centered around the new trilogy that Abrams will oversee.

It's a page borrowed from Disney's exploitation of the Marvel comic books and if it works out, it should make Abrams very rich indeed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/battle-over-star-trek-rights-killed-j-j-233548854.html

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China's SeedAsia Opens For Business, An Online Equity ...

SeedAsia, an equity crowd-funding site based in China, has just launched. The company is offering stakes in selected early-stage startups to people.

?It?s kind of a hybrid between Kickstarter and private investment,? said co-founder Tom Russell. The startups to be listed would have ideally gone through some some sort of incubation program and would have shown promise. They can apply offer between $50,000 and $1.5 million in equity through SeedAsia?s platform.

SeedAsia takes a 5 percent ?administration fee? and another 5 percent ?distribution fee? from the investor.

Potential investors need to apply and be screened, and SeedAsia has set the minimum investment commitment at $2,000 per member. ?It costs about $20,000 to $30,000 at minimum to be an angel investor, so this lowers the entry barrier for people,? he said.

SeedAsia is the first equity crowd-funding site to launch in the region, although the equity funding trend has been taking off in the US, where there are apparently over 200 such sites. One of them,?FundersClub, recently cleared US regulators, paving the way for more such sites to flourish.

Hong Kong-headquartered Decision Fuel is the first fund to be listed on SeedAsia. The company offers a mobile platform to deliver short consumer surveys. It had $1.25 million in seed funding in 2011, according to AngelList, and counts clients such as P&G, Nike, Colgate. It has already gathered more than 14 million survey responses for its clients, it said.

Russell said the crowd-funding scene is a lot less developed in Asia than it is in the West. The culture is such that potential investors are still more keen on property than in an online startup, he said. Cultural differences also persist. ?The local Chinese developers don?t like being transparent with their ideas and sharing, while Westerners don?t understand why the Chinese aren?t as transparent. The truth is, you have big players like Tencent that can copy you easily, which is why people aren?t as open with sharing here.?

SeedAsia has taken on some advisors to raise investor confidence in its portfolio clients. Inporia and Hive7 founder, Max Skibinsky, is one, and Oscar Ramos has been brought in too. Ramos founded Chinese seed fund, DaD Asia.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/14/equity-crowd-funding-site-seedasia-launches/

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