With Obama insisting the "noose is tightening" around Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the embattled Libyan leader has unveiled a new tactic by which to portray an image of internal solidarity: women at arms.
As the Guardian is reporting, a government-sanctioned "graduation ceremony" for women who had been given weapons training in defense of the regime was held in the town of Bani Walid. Invited and escorted by government minders, the journalists arrived to find 500 women of all ages clapping, singing and waving flags in Gaddafi's honor.
"We love Muammar Gaddafi and we want to save our country," 14-year-old Fatima Hassan is quoted as saying. "He made us happy. He makes us eat and makes the country free to do what we want. Before, we weren't free. My grandparents tell us that before Gaddafi, it was bad, there was no bread. He saved us."
Though reporters are said to have pondered just how much the event had been stage managed in advance, the images of fearsome-looking Libyan women -- from young teens to grandmothers -- wielding rifles and weapons are nonetheless frightening.
Anna Faris has gone through a few transformations since winning the role in Sasha Baron Cohen's upcoming comedy, 'The Dictator.'
Bauer-Griffin snapped photos of the comedic duo on set looking slightly different than we're used to. Anna traded in her flowing blond locks for a dark, Amelie-esque pixie cut. Of course, the sunny actress had to expect some sort of change, what with Baron Cohen's new do and all.
Well, one this is for sure: the producers of "The Paperboy" aren't typecasting.
The thriller, a big screen adaptation of the 1995 Pete Dexter novel of the same name, is in a bit of turmoil. Originally slated to star Sofia Vergara alongside Matthew McConaughey, Zac Efron and Tobey Maguire, the film already saw Maguire jump ship, and now, Vergara is dropping out thanks to a scheduling conflict with "Modern Family."
In her stead, The Hollywood Reporter relays that the producers of the Lee Daniels-directed project are in talks with Nicole Kidman to join the cast, a bit of a swing for what is billed as a sexual drama. Kidman, of course, is no slouch, with an Oscar win and two more nominations (including this year, for "Rabbit Hole) under her belt, but is markedly different from the Emmy-nominated Vergara.
Kidman, who just had a child via surrogate, has a busy schedule already; she's due to release the Joel Schumacker-directed, Nicholas Cage-starring "Trespass," later this year, and will soon start filming "The Danish Girl," and "Stoker," a creepy drama alongside Oscar-winner Colin Firth.
Here's the synopsis for the book, courtesy Publisher's Weekly:
Dog may be a staple ingredient in various Asian cuisines, but that wasn't enough to silence South Korean animal rights activists, whose repeated protests lead to the cancellation of a Seongnam festival focused on promoting canine meat's consumption.
As the AFP is reporting, the festival -- planned to “showcase canine food products, including barbecued dog, sausages and steamed paws” and to be held in a traditional open-air market -- quickly stirred fury from South Korean animal advocates and many Internet users, who conducted several online campaigns to force the event's cancellation. "This is making our country an international laughing stock, and making the whole world mistakenly believe that all South Koreans eat dogs," Park So-Youn, head of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth, is quoted as saying.
The continued protests eventually led to a lack of appropriate space for the event. "We couldn't possibly go on with the plan due to endless phone calls of complaint...now there are few willing to rent us a place for the event," Ann Yong-Geun, an adviser to Korea Dog Farmers' Association and a professor of nutrition at Chung Cheong University, told AFP.
Though the event has already garnered international headlines, just how popular dog meat truly is throughout South Korea remains a matter of debate. As the Wall Street Journal notes, dog meat soup, for example, "is not as popular as most news stories make it seem. A minority of people eat it regularly. It’s consumed most frequently in summer but is available year-round. And it’s more popular with men than women and is said to possess qualities that “help stamina.”
