divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/15804?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Somalia+sinks+deeper+into+a+state+of+total+disintegrationch=World+newsc3=The+Observerc4=Somalia+%28News%29%2CHuman+rights+%28News%29%2CPiracy+%28Film%29%2CWorld+news%2CObserverc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CFilm+Reviewsc6=Peter+Beaumontc7=2008_11_23c8=1122486c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Somaliac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FSomalia" width="1" height="1" //divpZam Zam Abdi fled Mogadishu after being threatened with death by the hardline Islamist militia - the Shabab. The message from the armed group once allied to the Union of Islamic Courts, the coalition that briefly seized power in 2006, was simple: if she continued working for her women's rights organisation in the Somali capital, she would be killed. The warning was posted on her office gates. But it is what happened to a friend and colleague, working for another organisation, that persuaded her to escape. He was shot dead and the same note left on his body./pp'Most of us had to leave,' she said. 'We had emails and phone calls telling us to stop working. They used an expression famous in Somalia: Falka aad ku jirtid maka baxeeysa. May ama haa? It means - "Stop what you are doing or we will act. Yes or no?" Then someone spoke on the radio - a local leader called Sheikh Mahmoud - delivering the same warning.'/ppZam Zam, 28, separates the chaos and violence that has pervaded her country since the overthrow of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 into 'ordinary Mogadishu' and 'not ordinary'. 'Ordinary', in Zam Zam's definition, describes her country's persistent clan warfare, even the heavy fighting in the city that drove her to leave before with her daughter when Ethiopian troops - supporting the internationally recognised government - shelled her neighbourhood in 2006 to drive the Islamic Courts out after six months in power. /ppIn the ordinary violence and chaos, Zam Zam and her colleagues could still work, negotiating with the clan warlords. In common with the UN, Zam Zam believes that what is happening now is something else. Something terrible, exceeding perhaps even the bloodsoaked chaotic days of the early 1990s when Somalia was last plunged into anarchy./ppIt is Mogadishu that symbolises what is happening. A large proportion of its population - already jobless, hungry and surviving on aid - has fled the fighting in the city between the Shabab and the forces of the country's weak and rapidly imploding government, backed by its Ethiopian allies. The streets are stalked by assassins, kidnappers and suicide bombers. And the Shabab is threatening to overrun the country's south and centre. /ppIf what is happening is a disaster, it is a disaster hardly noticed by the world. Yet it has not only been human rights workers who have been attacked. Government officials, politicians and journalists, anyone who does not fit in with the Shabab's world view, have been threatened and killed, mostly for being tainted by Western ideas. 'When the leadership of the Islamic Courts fled in 2006, the Shabab became more independent,' said Zam Zam. /ppFor humanitarian workers, problems were exacerbated when one of the Shabab's leaders, accused also of being a leader of al-Qaeda, was killed in a US air strike in late spring in the town of Dusa Mareeb. 'When the US hit Shabab hideouts they started seeing us as being spies of the West. If people were kidnapped they would ask to see our laptops before releasing us to see what information we held on them.'/ppWhile the world has focused on the rampant piracy problem afflicting the Gulf of Aden, which saw yet another tanker held for ransom last week, the seizing of ships is only a symptom of a much more terrifying malaise./ppWhat it points to is the wholesale failure of a state and the international community's abandonment of the Somalia problem except where it affects its interests - in terms of shipping trade and the 'war on terror' for the West and on a more local scale for the regional interests of Ethiopia and Eritrea./ppLast week, however, the African Union Commission's chairman, Jean Ping, reiterated what many are convinced of: that the piracy problem is inseparable from Somalia's caustic political and security problems. 'Piracy is an extension on the sea of the problem you are facing on the land ... [it] is an important aspect of all the disorder you already have in Somali territory,' he said./ppSomalia is not so much a failed state as one that is atomising. Forty-three per cent of the country is in dire need of humanitarian assistance, about 3.2 million people at the last count. There are 1.3 million internally displaced, 100,000 of them fleeing the fighting in Mogadishu alone since the beginning of September. Inflation is running at 1,600 per cent. One in six children in southern and central Somalia is acutely malnourished./ppDozens of aid workers, most of them locals, have been murdered this year, largely by members of the Shabab. According to the Shabab, even locals who take money from the UN are therefore in the pay of foreign interests and enemies to be killed./ppMogadishu and other centres have been hit by suicide attacks - merely one aspect of an intensely violent society. There is the religious conflict between the factions of the Islamic Courts allied to the Shabab and those they regard as insufficiently Islamic. Then there are the ever-present clan conflicts, at the centre of which is the rivalry between the Hawiye and the Darod groups. Added to this is the battle between the Transitional Federal government backed by Ethiopia and the Islamic Courts./ppThese conflicts are underscored by complex, interleaving rivalries even within the Islamist factions which have pitted the Shabab - literally the 'Youth' - against the more moderate Djibouti faction. On top of all this has been the mushrooming of criminal activity, piracy, smuggling and people-trafficking, some of it linked to groups such as the Shabab. Foreign jihadi fighters have also been attracted into the chaos. The consequence has been a disaster. /pp'The situation is very serious,' said a Mogadishu businessman who spoke to The Observer on Friday asking not to be identified for fear of being targeted by one of the rival groups. 'A lot of the population has fled from the city. Some areas are deserted and it is very difficult and dangerous. There are no jobs. People are only surviving on the food provided at the kitchens of the aid organisations. Others get money sent from their relatives overseas. /pp'The military loyal to the government are looting. They are taking mobiles from people and committing other crimes. Then there are the different factions of the resistance who call themselves names like the Union of Islamic Courts or Islamic Jihad. Last week the Shabab took two more towns. This is the worst situation since the civil war began,' he added. 'You don't know who will attack or kill you.' /ppAnd despite the advances on the battlefield made by the Shabab, he does not believe that the period of calm and order enjoyed in Somalia in 2006 when the Islamic Courts first took over would be replicated if the Islamist groups won once more. 'This time it will be worse,' he said. 'The Courts replaced the clan warlords but had no ideas for the future and were driven back. This time the Islamic groups will fight among themselves. This time we will have Islamic warlords. They will fight and there will be more difficult problems.'/ppSomalia's tragedy has been a slow, deadly and divisive affair that has ground out over the years since the fall of the socialist state founded by Siad Barre in 1991. Its roots, at least partly, are to be found in his disastrous war to seize the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, an adventure that would lead to eventual defeat for Somalia's forces and the beginning of Ethiopia's long history of interference in Somalia, which saw it arm the warlords who brought Siad Barre down./ppDespite the overthrow of his authoritarian regime, the rival clans responsible for his downfall could not agree on a replacement, leading to lawlessness and social collapse. The result was a country that, when confronted with famine, was unable to cope, leading to the deaths of more than a million of its people. /ppWhile the rest of the world knows Somalia for the intervention by American and Pakistani troops as part of Operation Restore Hope in 1993, for Somalis the country's story has been told in clan strife and repeated failures - 14 to date - to establish a government whose writ runs throughout the state. /ppThe most recent effort was the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Djibouti in 2004 whose authority was quickly challenged by the Islamic Courts, which emerged out of the port city of Kismayo and sought to establish a strict interpretation of sharia law before being driven out by Ethiopian troops who intervened on behalf of the TFG. /ppWhile the rule of the Islamic Courts was, by most Somali accounts, a period of relative calm, it is what has happened since that has driven Somalia towards a new catastrophe. Despite a peace deal between one of the factions of the Islamic Courts and the TFG, the Courts' former militia, the Shabab, has split apart - with the most militant faction responsible for the most violence, in particular those who look to the leadership of Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a hardline Salafist said to be close to al-Qaeda./ppThe outcome so many Somalis feared has already come to pass in large areas of south-central Somalia that have fallen under the control of the country's reinvented militant Islamist movement. In recent days its fighters have captured two more towns close to the capital, including Elasha, nine miles south of Mogadishu. In Elasha in recent days rival Islamist groups have already clashed violently./ppElsewhere, the Shabab is already consolidating its victories, including in Marka, capital of the Lower Shabele region. Speaking to a crowd in Marka, Muktar Robow - known as 'Abu Mansur' - a spokesman for the Shabab said the group had come to secure the region against foreigners and criminals./ppAccording to the community-based station Radio Garowe, in the north of the country, he said that the Shabab intended to establish an Islamic court to administer justice, adding: 'We will not allow the citizens to be oppressed again.'/ppMilitarily, it is a situation so bleak for the forces of the TFG and its Ethiopian allies that President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed admitted two weeks ago that Islamists now control most of Somalia, raising the prospect that his government could completely collapse. 'We are only in Mogadishu and Baidoa, where there is daily war,' he said. /ppThat leaves a fundamental question: will the Shabab press its advantage to attempt to take Mogadishu once again? On Friday the indication was that it might be its intention, as the capital saw one of the fiercest gun battles in recent weeks when Islamist fighters attacked the house of a local government official, leaving 17 dead. /ppThe Islamist factions have also become increasingly bold in recent weeks, with their spokesmen in Mogadishu regularly holding news conferences and carrying out floggings in the parts of the capital they control, whereas only a few months ago they were careful not to be seen in the open./ppDespite the high profile of the Shabab in recent weeks, some analysts believe that it may be content with the chaos in Mogadishu that has bogged down the contingent of African peacekeepers as well as Somali-Ethiopian troops. They believe, too, that the Shabab is wary of the several thousand Ethiopian troops who defeated them before./ppFears over what would happen if the Islamists were to take the capital and impose sharia law across the south were underlined by a single incident at the beginning of the month - the stoning to death for adultery of a 13-year-old rape victim, Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow, in Kismayo. 'You know how bad it is getting,' said Zam Zam, 'when a 13-year-old is stoned to death. Then you know that it is really scary.'/pp'Somalia in general and Mogadishu is in the midst of a deep political, humanitarian and security crisis,' said Asha Haji Elmi, an MP and activist and delegate to the UN-led peace process, who fled before the Ethiopian advance in 2006. Now based in Nairobi, she remains in daily contact with people in Somalia. /pp'They talk to me about a precarious situation, and it is civilians who are paying the heaviest price, especially women and children. It is unbelievable. There are internally displaced spread everywhere. There is no secure place.'/ppShe forcefully rejects any new attempt to impose a military solution on her country: 'The solution is political. It requires dialogue. That is the only symbol of hope. A military solution cannot be the answer to the problem. Everyone who has tried to solve Somalia's problems by force has failed.'/ph2A short and bloody history/h2pstrong1960/strong Britain withdraws from British Somaliland, making way for a union with Italian Somaliland. The new country is known as the Somali Republic./ppstrong1969/strong A coup launched by Mohamed Siad Barre ushers in a period of increasingly authoritarian rule. /ppstrong1977 /strongSiad Barre invades the Ethiopian territory of Ogaden in a bid to create a Greater Somalia. The Soviet Union and Cuba back Ethiopia. /ppstrong1991/strong Siad Barre is deposed by warlords, largely from the south, armed and supported by Ethiopia. The country descends into factional fighting. In May the northern clans declare an independent Republic of Somalia./ppstrong1993/strong Facing an appalling famine, the UN launches a humanitarian effort led by US and Pakistani troops. Thwarted by General Mohamed Farah Aideed, the mission suffers casualties, including the episode described in the film Black Hawk Down, above right, when 17 US Rangers were killed - and the UN mission leaves in 1995 in the wake of the US withdrawal./ppstrong2004/strong The two-year peace process concludes in the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government. It never manages to establish real authority. /ppstrong2006/strong A coalition of businessmen, clerics and militias known as the Union of Islamic Courts sweeps to power. Ethiopia, encouraged by the US, intervenes to support the TFG and drives back the Courts, claiming they are allied to al-Qaeda's East African network./ppstrong2008/strong With the leadership of the Courts in exile, a resurgent Islamist movement, focused on the hardline Shabab militia group, makes gains throughout the country, threatening Mogadishu and Baidoa by November./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/somalia"Somalia/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/humanrights"Human rights/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/piracy"Piracy/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527229112300260553996"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227399527229112300260553996" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. and IMAX Corporation announced that Jim Carrey will narrate Under the Sea 3D, the third IMAX(R) 3D co-production between the two companies. Scheduled to be released to IMAX(R) theatres beginning on February 13, 2009, Under the Sea 3D will offer an entertaining and uniquely inspirational way to explore the beauty and natural wonder of the oceans. Moviegoers will be able to experience face-to-face encounters with some of the most mysterious and stunning creatures of the sea. In IMAX 3D, the images appear to leap off the screen and float around the theatre, putting the audience IN the movie.

"Jim Carrey is a favorite of film audiences everywhere and of every generation, so he is the perfect choice to narrate this undersea adventure for moviegoers of all ages. We are also very proud to be working with IMAX to bring audiences this visually stunning film that reminds us all of the beauty and magic of our oceans, and the importance of preserving them for future generations," said Dan Fellman, President, domestic distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures.

"With his roots in Toronto, home of the world's first permanent IMAX theatre, Jim is very familiar with The IMAX Experience and we're very excited to collaborate with him on this meaningful project," said Greg Foster, Chairman and President, IMAX Filmed Entertainment. "His voice will draw people into this world of mysterious creatures and dazzling colors featured in Under the Sea 3D and we welcome him into the IMAX family."

Jim Carrey next stars in Warner Bros. Pictures' comedy Yes Man, due to be release on December 19, 2008. He previously earned Golden Globe Awards for his performances in Man on the Moon and The Truman Show. His numerous film credits also include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Bruce Almighty, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Liar, Liar, Batman Forever, The Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. His upcoming films include Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol, in which he plays Ebenezer Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future.

Under the Sea 3D is filmed by award-winning director/cinematographer Howard Hall, produced by Toni Myers, executive produced by Graeme Ferguson, and produced for Howard Hall Productions by Michele Hall. In addition to the 2006 release of Deep Sea 3D, Hall, Ferguson and Myers were all part of the accomplished filmmaking team behind IMAX's first underwater 3D adventure, Into The Deep, which has grossed more than $70 million since its 1991 release.

Under the Sea 3D follows the 2006 box office hit Deep Sea 3D, which has grossed $75 million worldwide. Deep Sea 3D continues to draw audiences after more than 100 weeks in release, demonstrating the strong legs and tremendous appeal that original IMAX 3D productions have become famous for throughout the exhibition industry.

This guest post is written by Matt Rutherford, Web Strategist and technology producer for Charlie Rose. Matt focuses on the macro themes affecting the internet and the wider world.

In an intimate interview with Charlie Rose on PBS tonight, and available here, Stanford professor Larry Lessig reveals some profound views on copyright, remix culture, and the new hybrid economy that is emerging.

In particular, Lessig speaks out against the abolitionist movement growing against copyright:

My real fear is that the last 10 years have unleashed a kind of revolutionary attitude among the generation that will take over in 10 years. And it will be hard for them to distinguish between sensible copyright legislation and the kind that we’ve got right now. So my real fear is we’re going to lose control of this animal... I just want to reform [copyright] to make it make sense.

A reform of copyright is clearly overdue. We require a new form of regulation that takes into account the ease and speed of digital distribution and appropriation. Every week, books cross my desk clamoring for this change - some of which are certainly worth reading. And as Lessig explains on the show, it’s counterproductive to continue to criminalize kids for file-sharing, remixing and recreating with content. Copyright was established to encourage creativity, not stifle it.

Cultural Roots

Lessig thinks on a macro time scale. For him, the emerging “read-write creativity” seen on YouTube and elsewhere is actually a return to our natural cultural roots. Historically, man has always absorbed and re-created culture – the symbolic retelling of stories and re-interpreting of songs on the front porch. It is only the emergence of mass media in the last century that caused us to accept a passive relationship with culture.

What’s so extraordinary about the last four years is that they’ve demonstrated that the technology of the internet is giving us a chance to go back to the way culture has been from the beginning…Only the 20th century was a deviation from this. But from the beginning of culture, it was a normal thing for people to be able to create and recreate the most important parts of culture that were around them.

As evidence of this, Lessig cites the numerous Charlie Rose remix videos that are floating around the web.

I’ve seen some of these Rose remixes, and they are enormous. They’re fantastic. But I would hope, you know, eventually you could be in a position to say I want to encourage this, please. Please do it.

A lot of these remixes also come across my desk. In the spirit of research, here are a few of the best so far: Beckett, Kung Fu, nuclear weapons. They’re all superb. And yes, we do encourage this. As Lessig says, Please do it.

Hybrid Economy

There remains the fundamental question of how a ‘new’ copyright can maintain revenue. After all, despite the ease of pointing out the flaws in the current system, it’s quite another matter to propose a viable alternative. Lessig sees the solution, in part, coming from a new hybrid economy, one that combines the traditional commercial economy with sharing economies seen in Wikipedia, YouTube and elsewhere:

Businesses have begun to realize that the world is in part divided between commercial economies like buying and selling books, and sharing economies like Wikipedia where enormous value is produced for nothing, people are doing it all for free. The most interesting thing I think we’ve seen though in the last five years is the development of a hybrid economy where commercial entities are trying to leverage value out of these sharing economies or vice versa, sharing economies trying to leverage value out of commercial entities. And this hybrid depends upon the commercial entity showing the proper respect for the creation in the sharing economy, and giving space to it, encouraging it so that the sharing economy can produce enormous value that is beneficial to the people inside, and also to the commercial business.

Lessig’s Big Idea

Lessig concludes the interview with his ‘big idea’. It is an inspiring, and elegant reminder that we are in the midst of an unprecedented social change. Just as the Gutenberg press facilitated the spread of the Protestant Reformation, fundamentally altering the course of Western civilization, so too is the internet beginning to spark tectonic changes, the breadth of which we don’t yet have the historical perspective to grasp. As Lessig explains:

I think the big idea, as every big idea is, is just one amazing step beyond where we are right now. And I think you think about the Obama campaign, something like Wikipedia, something like the stuff that’s going on on the Internet, the kind that I think of as read write culture. What it really is doing is reviving the sense that people can do something. Not the passive couch potato politics or couch potato culture, but that they can do something. We’re close to making it really effective. I think the next cycle, what you’re going to see in the way politics functions, will be unrecognizable, even from today. But when we’re there, it will be a revival of ideals, aspirations about democracy that will surprise us. The cynicism that we had in the 20th century will look very 20th century.

Larry Lessig’s interview on Charlie Rose was first broadcast on Friday 11/21/08 on PBS, and is available in full or in clips: Larry Lessig (full segment), Larry Lessig (clips). Matt Rutherford can be reached at matt@charlierose.com.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Un riddim new roots qui a inspiré pas mal d'artistes, le Miracle Riddim tient dans une mélodie assez aérienne et une rythmique solide. On retrouve...

iScience, Vol. 315, No. 5812. (2 February 2007), pp. 592-594./ibr /br /10.1126/science.315.5812.592

Newly released today



features
Race into an action-packed story of pursuit and betrayal. Take on jobs and compete in races to prove yourself as you infiltrate and take down an international crime syndicate
An all-new game engine featuring cutting-edge physics and improved AI designed to push players and the cars to limits with adrenaline filled action driving maneuvers
Fight off the cops and others as you take down your prey in high-speed, high stake multi-car chases. New and vastly improved AI mechanics mean more aggressive and intelligent cops focused on taking you out fast and by any means necessary
Tear across the massive highway system and discover the open world of the Gulf Coast Tri-Cities area, with three unique cities connected by an extensive highway system
In addition to the classic sprint and circuit race modes, Need for Speed Undercover features an all new exclusive multiplayer mode, Cops N’ Robbers. This visceral team-based mode supports up to 8 players and pits two teams of 4 players against each other. Robbers must pick up the money and take it to the drop-off point while the cops attempt to prevent the drop-off. Each game consists of two rounds giving the players the chance to play as the Cops and as the Robbers
Over 55 licensed cars are available featuring performance tuning that enables the player to dynamically adjust the vehicles to create the vehicles that can accommodate all action driving scenarios. Some of the cars include the Mercedes CL55, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT2 and the Mitsubishi EVO X

description
The Chase is on! Need for Speed Undercover has players racing down highways, evading cops and hunting down rivals as they go deep undercover to take down an international crime syndicate. The new game heralds the return of high-intensity police chases and introduces the all-new ‘Heroic Driving Engine’ - a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour.

Need for Speed Undercover also utilizes Hollywood style filming and production techniques as well as the acting talent of Maggie Q and Christina Milian to create a rich, cinematic experience.

This stunning mix of gameplay and live-action movies will immerse gamers in the world of the Tri-City Bay Area. The city’s open-world environment features over 80 miles of roads, including an enormous highway system that sets the stage for heart-pounding highway battles. These high-speed, high-stake chase sequences will push players to the limit as they fight off cops and opponents while whipping through traffic at 180 miles per hour.

An intelligent new A.I. mechanic delivers a realistic and high-energy action driving experience. Going back to the franchise’s roots, Need for Speed Undercover features more aggressive and intelligent cops whose sole purpose is to take down the player quickly and by any means necessary.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2tju.html

Newly released today



features
Race into an action-packed story of pursuit and betrayal. Take on jobs and compete in races to prove yourself as you infiltrate and take down an international crime syndicate
An all-new game engine featuring cutting-edge physics and improved AI designed to push players and the cars to limits with adrenaline filled action driving maneuvers
Fight off the cops and others as you take down your prey in high-speed, high stake multi-car chases. New and vastly improved AI mechanics mean more aggressive and intelligent cops focused on taking you out fast and by any means necessary
Tear across the massive highway system and discover the open world of the Gulf Coast Tri-Cities area, with three unique cities connected by an extensive highway system
In addition to the classic sprint and circuit race modes, Need for Speed Undercover features an all new exclusive multiplayer mode, Cops N’ Robbers. This visceral team-based mode supports up to 8 players and pits two teams of 4 players against each other. Robbers must pick up the money and take it to the drop-off point while the cops attempt to prevent the drop-off. Each game consists of two rounds giving the players the chance to play as the Cops and as the Robbers
Over 55 licensed cars are available featuring performance tuning that enables the player to dynamically adjust the vehicles to create the vehicles that can accommodate all action driving scenarios. Some of the cars include the Mercedes CL55, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT2 and the Mitsubishi EVO X

description
The Chase is on! Need for Speed Undercover has players racing down highways, evading cops and hunting down rivals as they go deep undercover to take down an international crime syndicate. The new game heralds the return of high-intensity police chases and introduces the all-new ‘Heroic Driving Engine’ - a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour.

Need for Speed Undercover also utilizes Hollywood style filming and production techniques as well as the acting talent of Maggie Q and Christina Milian to create a rich, cinematic experience.

This stunning mix of gameplay and live-action movies will immerse gamers in the world of the Tri-City Bay Area. The city’s open-world environment features over 80 miles of roads, including an enormous highway system that sets the stage for heart-pounding highway battles. These high-speed, high-stake chase sequences will push players to the limit as they fight off cops and opponents while whipping through traffic at 180 miles per hour.

An intelligent new A.I. mechanic delivers a realistic and high-energy action driving experience. Going back to the franchise’s roots, Need for Speed Undercover features more aggressive and intelligent cops whose sole purpose is to take down the player quickly and by any means necessary.

http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-...j-70-2tjt.html

It’s Friday, which can only mean we’re back on the blog with more news on Burnout Paradise content for 2009.
Today, we’re announcing the incredible new Carson Extreme Hotrod.

If you caught our recent announcements, you’ll know we’re bringing more content to Burnout Paradise through 2009. We’ve talked Party, Ultimate, Legendary Cars and Toys in recent weeks. Now we’re mixing things up with a little boost-based gameplay innovation with the Extreme Hotrod.
We’ll be back in the New Year with all the details on this powerhouse racer, but for now we’re keeping it under wraps.
We could tell you that it’s the fastest car in Paradise City – a stripped down, ultra low, overpowered straight line monster.
We could talk about its roots in American Rat Rod culture and it’s wildly exaggerated Hot Rod features, based on a ‘20s Roadster.
We could explain that we’ve rewired Burnout’s vehicle dynamics system, so it handles more intuitively and drifts more realistically than any other car.
We could reveal that it’s the first of a pack of 2 cars designed to re-imagine Burnout Boost. Which explains the blue exhaust flames.
We could do all that, but we don’t want to give away too much. For now, all you really need to know is that this car will give you the ride of your life and in early 2009 you will NEED to own it.

The Carson Extreme Hotrod. Light the touch paper and hang on for dear life.
We’ll be back with movies, screens, more info and interviews with the creators on this and the ”other” boost car that will be available to buy as part of our Burnout Paradise Boost Specials Pack in 2009.
Just check back here on the blog, www.criteriongames.com or Crash TV for all the latest.
Next week. Big Surf. See you then.


More...

pThis "current artists collaborate with dead icons through the miracle of technology" thing just won't go away. a href="http://www.natkingcole.com/"strongNat King Cole/strong/a will follow in the posthumous footsteps of such departed icons as a href="/article/record_review/20512-the-notorious-big-duets-the-final-chapter"strongBiggie/strong/a, a href="/article/news/142098-snoop-dogg-remixes-johnny-cash-on-comp"strongJohnny Cash/strong/a, a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-11-14-elvis-mcbride_N.htm?csp=34"strongElvis/strong/a, and, um, a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53ith7bNN8w"stronghimself/strong/a with the release of an album called emRe:Generations/em.br /br /emRe:Generations/em contains reimaginings of Cole songs by TV on the Radio, Cee-Lo, the Roots, Nas, Just Blaze, Cut Chemist, Stephen and Damian Marley, Brazilian Girls, will.i.am and Nat's daughter Natalie Cole, and Bebel Gilberto, among others.br /br /emRe:Generations/em is also a visual arts project, with multiple Los Angeles artists drawing inspiration from the singer for the album's artwork. The image on the record's cover itself comes from Cole's eldest grandson Sage.br /br /a href="http://www.capitolrecords.com/"strongCapitol/strong/a/a href="http://www.emigroup.com/"strongEMI/strong/a and a href="http://www.natkingcole.com/"strongKing Cole Partners amp; Productions/strong/a will release emRe:Generations/em digitally, on CD, and on vinyl on March 10. The album's tentative tracklist is available after the jump./ppa href="http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/node/147626" target="_blank"read more/a/p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/BrfhLkMf41vc-cQJaUvwiwEjD2E/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~a/BrfhLkMf41vc-cQJaUvwiwEjD2E/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pitchfork/today/~4/KG34lUJ5bmY" height="1" width="1"/

RE:Generations, a new posthumous release from Nat King Cole, will feature collaborations with such hip-hop acts as Cee-Lo, The Roots, will.i.am, Cut Chemist, Just Blaze, Nas, and TV On The Radio. Says daughter Carole Cole, “With RE:Generations, we want to musically and visually bridge the so-called generation gap and hopefully create mutual admiration and respect between teens, parents and grands of every culture.” [StreetCred.com]

The Roots’ tour bus crashed en route to Paris on Wednesday, November 19. The musicians suffered only minor injuries, however, and ?uestlove took to Twitter.com several hours after the accident to assure his fans that “dog we are soooo alive right now.” [PitchforkMedia.com]

This year’s winner of the Polaris Prize, Caribou’s Dan Snaith, will donate the bulk of his money to charity. Ecojustice and the Stephen Lewis Foundation will receive the donations, while Snaith plans to use the remaining funds to help finance his next album. [Exclaim.ca]

Jody Reynolds, the rockabilly songwriter behind “Endless Sleep,” died this month at the age of 75. With its dramatic performance and unconventional subject matter, “Endless Sleep” helped usher in a wave of tragic teen pop songs. [LAWeekly.com]

Coupons for a free 20-ounce bottle of Dr. Pepper — which the beverage company promised to provide if Chinese Democracy received a 2008 release date — will be available on Sunday, November 23rd, via Dr. Pepper’s web site. Although coupons will only be available for 24 hours, they will be honored at stores until the end of February. [Variety.com]

Need for Speed returns to its roots with hokey cutscenes, wild cop chases, and solid racing action.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/17248?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Moonie+peace+group+to+hold+biggest+UK+eventch=World+newsc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Religion+%28News%29%2CKorea+%28News%29%2CUK+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Riazat+Buttc7=2008_11_21c8=1122001c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Religionc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FReligion" width="1" height="1" //divpA peace group involved with the controversial Unification Church, who are often given the name of Moonies, is tomorrow staging its biggest ever event in Britain. /ppAnti-cult activists fear it could mark a British renaissance for the group, which experienced a growth in numbers during the 1970s and 80s./ppThe Global Peace Festival, at the Excel Centre in the London docklands, is expected to attract thousands of activists from across Europe and features addresses from Preston Moon, the third son of the church's founder, and Tom Brake, the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman./ppCarrying the slogan of "One family under god", the event has performances from diverse acts such as the Royal Philharmonic Ensemble and the Muslim singer Dawud Wharnsby. /ppThere are also workshops on family, marriage and the environment. The morning session is exclusively for members of Ambassadors for Peace, a global network with its roots in the Unification Church./ppThe Universal Peace Federation, formerly known as the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace, which has Moon as its founder, is organising tomorrow's festival./ppIts spokesman Tim Read told the Guardian that although the UPF was a direct result of the church, not all its members were unificationists. "Our association with the Unification Church can put some off but people are starting to get over that./pp"They're seeing that we're practising what we believe in. When people come to UPF events they're very interested that we can bring them together without an agenda. We're trying to be a catalyst for like-minded organisations who focus on community cohesion and inter-religious co-operation."/ppHe said the level of cooperation from groups and individuals had been "surprisingly good". /ppHe added: "People have biased views of new religious movements, all new religious groups have these problems and we're no different. We want to hold this every two years and get more sponsorship and partners. If we get more support we get more mainstream"./ppAttempts to enlist the support of public figures has had mixed results. Earlier this year, Shahid Malik, the minister for international development, pulled out of a Commons meeting organised by the UPF after learning of its links to the church. Julia Goldsworthy, the Lib Dem MP for Falmouth and Camborne also withdrew once she too became aware of the connection./ppHer party colleague, Brake, who is leading the session on community cohesion, has defended his decision to take part. "I don't see eye to eye with their views but I don't see any particular problem with speaking at their event, especially if it gives me an opportunity to challenge what Rev Moon advocates."/ppThe Unification Church owns, operates or subsidises many international bodies involved with political, commercial, cultural and social enterprises. br /Members, who prefer to be called Unificationists, believe Moon is the messiah and that he and his wife have laid the foundation for establishing the kingdom of heaven on Earth./ppAccording to Inform, an independent charity that focuses on new religious movements, the church has 10 meeting houses across Britain in Greater London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Bath and Bromley. It also owns houses in Kent and Wiltshire for larger gatherings. /ppIn 2007, the movement reported there were around 1,200 members in Britain, slightly more than half of whom were born in the movement and were still minors./ppOne campaigner, Audrey Chaytor of Family, Action, Information and Resource, said: "They might want you to believe they're talking about peace but their aim is to recruit."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/religion"Religion/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/korea"North and South Korea/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227288014953112117240433070"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227288014953112117240433070" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a

The Roots a fait un grave accident de le route dans la matinée du jeudi 20 novembre. Les sept membres du groupe étaient dans leur car les menant vers leur concert à Paris où ils devaient faire la première partie de Kanye West à Bercy.

HOUDENG Ils dormaient paisiblement car ils étaient en concert jeudi soir à Bercy, en première partie du rappeur Kanye West. Et pourtant, vers 7 h, ils ont été réveillés plus que brusquement... Les membres ...

HOUDENG Ils dormaient paisiblement car ils étaient en concert jeudi soir à Bercy, en première partie du rappeur Kanye West. Et pourtant, vers 7 h, ils ont été réveillés plus que brusquement... Les membres ...