Much Greater Paris - TIME Excerpt

Much Greater Paris – Time Excerpt
By Bruce Crumley / Paris Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009
Like most of the world's favored travel destinations, tourism-dependent Paris is looking for ways to ride out what promises to be a dismal, recession-plagued 2009. There are bargains to be had, and the welcome mat will be out, defying Parisians' reputation for a certain aloofness when it comes to receiving visitors.
Yet it's not a lack of tourists that has Paris' city fathers concerned about the future. There will always be recessions, and tourists will always visit Paris, as long as there's a Louvre and an Eiffel Tower and that wondrous food. They have gone there for centuries, and tourism is the single most important industry in the metropolis of over 10 million. It generates more than $10 billion annually and accounts for nearly 150,000 jobs--or 12% of the city's employment. Paris is most frequently credited as the world's tourism capital, with nearly 35 million visitors in 2008 (compared with more than 15 million for No. 2 London, and 12 million for Hong Kong). Unlike many capitals, though, Paris has a unique balance of vacationers and business travelers. The latter have helped Paris maintain its lead over Singapore as the largest convention venue on earth.
Getting to Paris is already becoming easier. While London's maxed-out Heathrow Airport struggles to win approval to build a third runway, Paris' Charles de Gaulle--which has increased capacity 20% since 2006--already operates four, and CDG has even more space set aside for considerable expansion. That will be vital to keep pace with what some forecast to be a 75% to 100% increase in Paris-bound tourism in the next 20 years.
Handling that influx is what concerns the planners most at l'hôtel de ville, the city hall. Paris got a dose of overload when Japanese visitors, armed with the supercharged yen, arrived by the 747-load in the 1980s. Now think about Chinese and Indians arriving in similar numbers.
So how will the city of romance avoid being loved to death? The answer to that is something few might have expected. Increasing Paris' appeal to tourists, experts say, will involve throwing the city's arms open to its surrounding suburbs--including some associated more with blighted housing projects and periodic rioting than with culture-filled summer vacations.
"Whether you call it Paris métropole or a Greater Paris, structuring the city within the framework of an enlarged, better-organized region is a major key to both the future of Paris and its tourism industry," says Jean-Bernard Bros, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of tourism. In tourism terms, that's already happening, with people traveling to or staying near attractions such as Versailles and its famed château to the west or the Marne-la-Vallée home of Disneyland Paris to the east. But the plan is to now go farther in other directions and to all the suburbs.
Officials say that effort involves reintegrating suburbs and populations victimized by racial and economic disadvantage into more affluent French society--a remedial move the rest of the country must also make. But that challenge carries with it a considerable opportunity for Paris-area authorities figuring out how to keep up with an expected boom in tourism over the next two decades.
The city has no place to go but out. Real estate--cramped central Paris is a mere 41 sq. mi. (105 sq km). That may not compare badly with Manhattan's 24 sq. mi. (62 sq km), but it's dwarfed by New York City's total 305-sq.-mi. (790 sq km) reach and the 610 sq. mi. (1,580 sq km) of Greater London. Meanwhile, London and New York City can accommodate residents, businesses and tourists somewhere Paris can't: high in the air, in skyscrapers. One of the elements that make Paris so appealing in the first place is the well-preserved state of the city's elegant buildings and neighborhoods (a product of Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann's ambitious redevelopment of the city in the mid-1800s). These places have long been protected by strict zoning laws prohibiting high-rises and imposing harmony on new buildings through regulation.
That safeguarding of the city's authentic Old World look and feel has prevented any Paris version of London's Gherkin from casting a shadow over the Louvre, or a Trump Tower from giving the Palais Garnier a size complex. It similarly required architect Jean Nouvel to design the new Quai Branly Museum to achieve virtual invisibility to protect the grandeur of the neighboring Eiffel Tower. But it has limited the city's hotels to their current, relatively small structures--a handicap to both hoteliers and guests.
The unloved suburbs offer fewer impediments to growth. "The historical decision to preserve the buildings of intra muros Paris means that we're now pushing those walls into the surrounding suburbs in numerous ways," notes Paul Roll, director general of Paris' Office of Tourism and Conventions. As an example, he cites the skyscrapers built in the western enclave of La Défense for companies looking for headquarters, offices and big hotels that couldn't be constructed in town. "In that way, Paris remains protected, while the region benefits from innovative construction similar to London's," he says.
But building towers and big hotels in outlying suburbs, says Roll, "won't get people flocking to them unless there's also business activity, cultural events and attractions and bustling life out there too."
Henriette Zoughebi says there's all that in places Parisians and tourists rarely think of looking. First among them is the northern suburb of St.-Denis--known to much of France as the home of some of the most disaffected and explosive of the nation's unemployment-racked housing projects. Zoughebi, an elected official on the regional council, points out that St.-Denis also hosts the Basilica of St.-Denis--the burial place of French royalty since Clovis I--which French and foreign visitors flock to in spite of the area's less noble reputation.
"What many visitors don't discover until they get to that final resting place of France's ancient rulers is that right outside--in open markets, shops, cultural centers--there are also some of France's most vibrant and creative newer populations," says Zoughebi, who also presides over the Paris--Ile-de-France Regional Tourism Committee. "Once people get out there, they're surprised at what they find and are curious about what else there might be. The answer is 'a lot'--and the same is true of most suburbs. We just have to connect people to them."
To some degree, that's already happening. In addition to visiting St.-Denis's basilica and Versailles's château, tourists are also inspecting Paris' peripheries. Trips to the National Dance Center in northeastern Pantin, the MAC/Val museum of contemporary art in the southeastern suburb of Vitry-sur-Seine and the City of Science and Industry on Paris' northern border with Aubervilliers are on the rise. St.-Denis, meanwhile, boasts popular tours of the architecturally stunning sports stadium Stade de France, which was built to host the 1998 World Cup but has wound up becoming a magnet for the area since then.
Defying some predictions, offices and shops have been built in the Stade de France area since the Cup, and businesses have moved in. Says Zoughebi, "Tourism will also issue from that trend, as people learn they can find new, modern, comfortable, more affordable accommodations and interesting cultural activities a short Métro ride away from central Paris," she says.
Transport is the last and possibly most vital remaining element in improving Paris and its region's future--and not just for tourists. Though Paris' commuter- and subway-rail network is among the most efficient and dense in the world, its rolling stock is in need of significant modernization. Ways need to be found to unclog saturated Parisian lines--particularly the No. 13, serving St.-Denis to the north; the No. 1 main line that all tourists use, which runs east-west from the Etoile to the Bastille; and the parallel RER commuter line. Three different plans that would cost tens of billions of dollars are being studied to renovate and extend existing Métro and commuter lines and build a circular rail link around the city, connecting its first row of suburbs and two airports.
"You can relieve a lot of traffic pressure within Paris itself by allowing suburban commuters to get to work in other suburbs without passing through Paris--which also saves them time and offers visitors a new opportunity of getting around and seeing things too," Roll says.
Certainly, improving tourists' stays is the best way for Paris to hang on to the largest slice of a global tourism pie valued at nearly $900 billion. To that end, Paris is rolling out a campaign introducing new quality standards for businesses serving tourists, the goal being to get Parisians to act with greater hospitality out of economic self-interest (since go-out-of-your-way kindness to strangers is not, shall we say, a particular Parisian strength). Tourism boards have set up information and hospitality offices at airports and throughout metro Paris. To address the looming shortfall of hotel rooms, the municipality plans to add 7,500 rooms to the existing stable of 75,000 over the next few years. To help tourists choose, officials have introduced a fifth star for hotels, a rating many nations already have. And as part of the transport revamp, a direct rail link from central Paris to Charles de Gaulle is expected to go into service in 2013.
Yet even as the effort to reconnect Paris to its suburbs seeks to cater better to tourists, it will also be designed to make the area a more pleasant place for residents. "The real attraction Paris offers visitors is the peerless lifestyle and experience of being a Parisian during their stay," says Bros. "The key to making Paris an even better place to visit is making it a better place to live--for Parisians as well as their neighbors." It's Parisians' town too; the rest of the world just likes to drop in from time to time.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

FACT :
FRANCE is the world's No. 1 tourist destination, with 82 million foreign visitors to the country in 2007, according to the UN World Tourism Organization.

Singapore Tourism Board launches s$90 million BOOST for tourism sector

Photo taken from my mobile phone (2001)
Singapore Tourism Board launches s$90 million BOOST for tourism sector

Posted: 24-02-2009 , 08:50 GMT

Against the backdrop of the current global economic crisis and with the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) predicting that global travel in 2009 will remain flat or decline by 2 percent, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) recently announced a S$90 million (US$59.7 million) initiative titled BOOST (Building On Opportunities to Strengthen Tourism) to fortify Singapore’s tourism sector during the current economic climate.

STB forecasted that this year, Singapore will welcome between nine to nine and a half million visitor arrivals and generate tourism receipts of between S$12 billion to S$12.5 billion (US$7.95 billion to US$8.30 billion).

Jason Ong, Area Director, Middle East and Africa, Singapore Tourism Board said: “Singapore’s advantage is that we are entering this difficult period from a position of strength. In the Country Brand Index 2008 by FutureBrand and Weber Shandwick, Singapore was ranked globally as the third-best destination for shopping and fourth in fine dining.”


“We have also consolidated our position as a premier business city with Singapore being ranked for the first time ever, ‘Top International Meeting City’ in the Union of International Associations 2007 Global Rankings,” he added.

The BOOST campaign is a multi-faceted program aimed to augment tourism demand for Singapore, increased funding support for business events and improve the mid to long term prospects for Singapore’s tourism sector.

To help boost visitorship in 2009, a global marketing campaign “2009 Reasons to enjoy Singapore” will be launched to offer visitors attractive travel packages and promotions that convey Singapore’s quality and exciting experiences at value-for-money prices.

STB will also leverage on online media and marketing channels to create captivating campaigns. The first is “Fly on US,” a promotion hosted on both the visitsingapore.com website and Facebook. Every 2009th name submitted to these sites will win a free pair of air tickets to Singapore, with S$500,000 worth of air tickets to be won over three months.

“With these new marketing campaigns complimented by exciting developments such as the upcoming integrated resorts, we are confident that the Middle East visitor will continue to be attracted to Singapore,” Ong concluded.
© 2009 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)

Dubai tourism backlash over ouster of Israeli tennis player

Dubai tourism backlash over ouster of Israeli tennis player
By - Lori Rackl Chicago SunTimes
on February 17, 2009 11:12 AM
As reported over the weekend, the United Arab Emirates denied a visa to Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer, so she is unable to play in the Dubai Tennis Championships.
Tour operator IsramWorld responded with this volley today:
New York - February 17, 2009: One of America's largest tour operators, New York-based IsramWorld has cancelled its tour programs to Dubai, it was announced today in the wake of the United Arab Emirates' decision to deny a visa to Israeli tennis player, Shahar Peer, to participate in the Dubai Tennis Championships.
"The UAE's action is an odious act of political bigotry," says A. Ady Gelber, president and CEO of IsramWorld, a leading U.S. tour operator for more than four decades and a prominent member of USTOA (the United States Tour Operators' Association), "and it reveals that despite its massive investment in tourism infrastructure, Dubai appears not ready to be a member of the world tourism family."
IsramWorld offers tours and packages to 56 countries on five continents. In the wake of the Camp David Accords, it was one of the first U.S. tour operators to offer a diverse program of tours to Egypt, and in 1994 it began offering tours to Jordan. "I am deeply disappointed in the UAE's decision, one that seems to spell a return to the grim dark days of division and discrimination," observed Gelber.
The Dubai Tennis Championships are sponsored by Barclays, Britain's fourth-biggest bank that in 2008 acquired the assets of failed U.S. investment bank, Lehman Brothers.
According to a report in Sunday's New York Times, when U.S. tennis champion, Venus Williams, learned of Peer's visa denial she said, "All the players support Shahar, we are all athletes, and we stand for tennis." Peer and her family urged the Women's Tennis Association not to cancel the tournament because of the incident, but The New York Times took an unusually strong position in its article on the controversy, saying: "There is always going to be international conflict, and athletes in the middle. But they can't be abandoned there when there is a choice. Tennis should finish its business in the gulf this month, and say bye-bye, Dubai."
"We're saying 'bye-bye, Dubai,' right now," Gelber added.

Oscar Winners List (1929 - 2009 )

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1999 to present
81st Annual Academy Awards - Slumdog Millionaire
Best Director - Danny Boyle ( Slumdog Millionaire)
Best Actor - Sean Penn ( Milk)
Best Actress - Kate Winslett (The Reader)

80th Annual Academy Awards - No Country for Old Men
79th Annual Academy Awards - The Departed
78th Annual Academy Awards - Crash
77th Annual Academy Awards - Million Dollar Baby
76th Annual Academy Awards - The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
75th Annual Academy Awards - Chicago
74th Annual Academy Awards - A Beautiful Mind
73rd Annual Academy Awards - Gladiator
72nd Annual Academy Awards - American Beauty

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1990 - 1999
71st Annual Academy Awards - Shakespeare in Love
70th Annual Academy Awards - Titanic
69th Annual Academy Awards - The English Patient
68th Annual Academy Awards - Braveheart
67th Annual Academy Awards - Forrest Gump
66th Annual Academy Awards - Schindler's List
65th Annual Academy Awards - Unforgiven
64th Annual Academy Awards - The Silence of the Lambs
63rd Annual Academy Awards - Dances With Wolves
62nd Annual Academy Awards - Driving Miss Daisy

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1980 - 1989
61st Annual Academy Awards - Rain Man
60th Annual Academy Awards - The Last Emperor
59th Annual Academy Awards - Platoon
58th Annual Academy Awards - Out of Africa
57th Annual Academy Awards - Amadeus
56th Annual Academy Awards - Terms of Endearment
55th Annual Academy Awards - Gandhi
54th Annual Academy Awards - Chariots of Fire
53rd Annual Academy Awards - Ordinary People
52nd Annual Academy Awards - Kramer vs. Kramer

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1970 - 1979
51st Annual Academy Awards -The Deer Hunter
50th Annual Academy Awards - Annie Hall
49th Annual Academy Awards - Rocky
48th Annual Academy Awards - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
47th Annual Academy Awards - The Godfather, Part II
46th Annual Academy Awards - The Sting
45th Annual Academy Awards - The Godfather
44th Annual Academy Awards - The French Connection
43rd Annual Academy Awards - Patton
42nd Annual Academy Awards - Midnight Cowboy

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1960 - 1969
41st Annual Academy Awards - Oliver!
40th Annual Academy Awards - In the Heat of the Night
39th Annual Academy Awards - A Man for All Seasons
38th Annual Academy Awards - The Sound of Music
37th Annual Academy Awards - My Fair Lady
36th Annual Academy Awards - Tom Jones
35th Annual Academy Awards - Lawrence of Arabia
34th Annual Academy Awards - West Side Story
33rd Annual Academy Awards - The Apartment
32nd Annual Academy Awards - Ben-Hur

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1950 - 1959
31st Annual Academy Awards - Gigi
30th Annual Academy Awards - The Bridge on the River Kwai
29th Annual Academy Awards - Around the World in 80 Days
28th Annual Academy Awards - Marty
27th Annual Academy Awards - On the Waterfront
26th Annual Academy Awards - From Here to Eternity
25th Annual Academy Awards - The Greatest Show on Earth
24th Annual Academy Awards - An American in Paris
23rd Annual Academy Awards - All About Eve
22nd Annual Academy Awards - All the King's Men

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1940 - 1949
21st Annual Academy Awards - Hamlet
20th Annual Academy Awards - Gentleman's Agreement
19th Annual Academy Awards - The Best Years of Our Lives
18th Annual Academy Awards - The Lost Weekend
17th Annual Academy Awards - Going My Way
16th Annual Academy Awards - Casablanca
15th Annual Academy Awards - Mrs. Miniver
14th Annual Academy Awards - How Green Was My Valley
13th Annual Academy Awards - Rebecca
12th Annual Academy Awards - Gone with the Wind

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1929 - 1939
11th Annual Academy Awards - You Can't Take It With You
10th Annual Academy Awards - The Life of Emile Zola
9th Annual Academy Awards - The Great Ziegfeld
8th Annual Academy Awards - Mutiny on the Bounty
7th Annual Academy Awards - It Happened One Night
6th Annual Academy Awards - Cavalcade
5th Annual Academy Awards - Grand Hotel
4th Annual Academy Awards - Cimarron
3rd Annual Academy Awards - All Quiet on the Western Front
2nd Annual Academy Awards - The Broadway Melody
1st Annual Academy Awards - Wings

_____________________________________________________________________________________
Slumdog' rules Oscars with 8 prizes including Best Picture
Sunday, February 22, 2009 9:25:00 PM PT, Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - "Slumdog Millionaire" took the best-picture Academy Award and seven other Oscars on Sunday, including director for Danny Boyle, whose ghetto-to-glory story paralleled the film's unlikely rise to Hollywood's summit.

The other top winners: Kate Winslet, best actress for the Holocaust-themed drama "The Reader"; Sean Penn, best actor for the title role of "Milk"; Heath Ledger, supporting actor for "The Dark Knight"; and Penelope Cruz, supporting actress for "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

A story of hope amid squalor in Mumbai, India, "Slumdog Millionaire" came in with 10 nominations, its eight wins including adapted screenplay, cinematography, editing and both music Oscars (score and song).

"Just to say to Mumbai, all of you who helped us make the film and all of those of you who didn't, thank you very much. You dwarf even this guy," Boyle said, holding up his directing Oscar.

The filmmakers accepted the best-picture trophy surrounded by both the adult professional actors who appeared among the cast of relative unknowns and some of the children Boyle cast from the slums of Mumbai.

The film follows the travails and triumphs of Jamal, an orphan who artfully dodges a criminal gang that mutilates children to make them more pitiable beggars. Jamal witnesses his mother's violent death, endures police torture and struggles with betrayal by his brother, while single-mindedly hoping to reunite with the lost love of his childhood.

Fate rewards Jamal, whose story unfolds through flashbacks as he recalls how he came to know the answers that made him a champion on India's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."

As he took the stage to accept his prize for playing slain gay-rights pioneer Harvey Milk, Penn gleefully told the crowd: "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns."

He followed with condemnation of anti-gay protesters who demonstrated near the Oscar site and comments about California's recent vote to ban gay marriage.

"For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

For his demented reinvention of Batman villain the Joker, Ledger became only the second actor ever to win posthumously, his triumph coming exactly 13 months after his death from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs.

His Oscar for the Warner Bros. blockbuster was accepted by Ledger's parents and sister on behalf of the actor's 3-year-old daughter, Matilda.

"I have to say this is ever so humbling, just being amongst such wonderful people in such a wonderful industry," said his father, Kim Ledger. "We'd like to thank the academy for recognizing our son's amazing work, Warner Bros., and Christopher Nolan in particular for allowing Heath the creative license to develop and explore this crazy Joker character."

Since his death, the 28-year-old Ledger has gained a mythic aura akin to James Dean, another rising star who died well before his time.

The Joker was his final completed role, a casting choice that initially drew scorn from fans who thought Ledger would not be up to the task given Jack Nicholson's gleefully campy rendition of the character in 1989's "Batman."

In the months before Ledger's death, buzz on his wickedly chaotic performance swelled as marketing for the movie centered on the Joker and the perverted clown makeup he hid behind.

Ledger's death fanned a frenzy of anticipation for "The Dark Knight," which had a record $158.4 million opening weekend last summer.

The previous posthumous Oscar recipient was Peter Finch, who won best actor for 1976's "Network" two months after his death.

Cruz triumphed as a woman in a steamy three-way affair with her ex-husband and an American woman in Woody Allen's romance.

"Has anybody ever fainted here? Because I might be the first one," Cruz said, who went on with warm thanks to Allen. "Thank you, Woody, for trusting me with this beautiful character. Thank you for having written all these years some of the greatest characters for women."

"OK, that fainting thing, Penelope," Winslet joked later as she accepted her best-actress prize for "The Reader," in which she plays a former concentration camp guard in an affair with a teen. "I'd be lying if I haven't made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably 8 years old and staring into the bathroom mirror, and this would be a shampoo bottle. But it's not a shampoo bottle now."

It was Winslet's first win after five previous losses.

"Slumdog" writer Simon Beaufoy, who adapted the script from Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A," said there are places he never could imagine being.

"For me, it's the moon, the South Pole, the Miss World podium, and here," Beaufoy said.

The epic love story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which led with 13 nominations, had three wins, for visual effects, art direction and makeup.

"The Dark Knight" had a second win, for sound editing.

"Milk" writer Dustin Lance Black offered an impassioned tribute to Milk.

"If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours," Black said.

"Man on Wire," James Marsh's examination of tight-rope walker Philippe Petit's dazzling stroll between the towers of the World Trade Center in 1974, was chosen as best documentary.

The acting categories were presented by five past winners of the same awards, among them last year's actress winners, Marion Cotillard and Tilda Swinton, plus Halle Berry, Nicole Kidman, Kevin Kline, Sophia Loren, Anthony Hopkins, Shirley MacLaine and Robert De Niro.

It was a much different style for the Oscars as each past recipient offered personal tributes to one of the nominees, without clips of the nominated performances. Awards usually are done in chit-chat style between a couple of celebrity presenters.

After last year's Oscars delivered their worst TV ratings ever, producers this time aimed to liven up the show with some surprises and new ways of presenting awards. Rather than hiring a comedian such as past hosts Jon Stewart or Chris Rock, the producers went with actor and song-and-dance man Hugh Jackman, who has been host of Broadway's Tony Awards.

Instead of the usual standup routine, Jackman did an engaging musical number to open the show, saluting nominated films with a clever tribute.

Jackman later did a medley staged by his "Australia" director Baz Luhrmann with such performers as Beyonce Knowles and "High School Musical" stars Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron.

"Slumdog Millionaire" went into the evening after a run of prizes from earlier film honors.

The film nearly got lost in the shuffle as Warner Bros. folded its art-house banner, Warner Independent, which had been slated to distribute "Slumdog Millionaire." It was rescued from the direct-to-video scrap heap when Fox Searchlight stepped in to release the film.

"Slumdog" composer A.R. Rahman, a dual Oscar winner for the score and song, said the movie was about "optimism and the power of hope."

"All my life, I've had a choice of hate and love," Rahman said. "I chose love, and I'm here.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Here are some of the most notable quotes from the 80th Academy Awards, which have been held at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.

So many people have a part of this, chief among them Cormac McCarthy who wrote a wonderful book that was an honour to make into a movie
Producer Scott Rudin pays tribute to the author of No Country For Old Men as he picks up the award for best film

Ethan and I have been making stories with movie cameras since we were kids... honestly, what we do now doesn't feel that much different to what we were doing then
Joel Coen receiving the best director Oscar, won with brother Ethan for No Country For Old Men

That's the closest I'll ever come to getting a knighthood
Daniel Day-Lewis on picking up his best actor Oscar from The Queen star Helen Mirren

This is for the writers. I especially want to thank my fellow nominees because I worship you guys and I'm learning from you every day
Juno writer Diablo Cody remembers the writers' strike as she picks up the best original screenplay Oscar

Truth is, I think my dear wife, Anne, was hoping I'd make a romantic comedy. But after Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, that simply wasn't possible
Film-maker Alex Gibney picks up the documentary feature award for Taxi to the Dark Side, about the death in US custody of an Afghan taxi driver

We made this film two years ago; we shot it on two Handycams. It took us three weeks to make; we made it for a hundred grand. We never thought we'd ever come into a room like this and be in front of you people
Irishman Glen Hansard, who won best song - along with co-star Marketa Irglova - for Falling Slowly from their film Once

There've been some great Austrian film-makers working here... most of them had to leave my country because of the Nazis, so it sort of makes sense that the first Austrian movie to win an Oscar is about the Nazis' crimes
Stefan Ruzowitzky, writer and director of The Counterfeiters, picking up the Oscar for best foreign language film

Well, I'm speechless now. Thank you, life; thank you, love; and it is true there are some angels in this city
Marion Cotillard on winning best actress for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose

I think whatever success we've had in this area has been entirely attributable to how selective we are. We've only adapted Homer and Cormac McCarthy
Joel Coen as he and brother Ethan win best adapted screenplay for their take on McCarthy's No Country For Old Men

Seeing you climb into that rubber batsuit from Batman and Robin - the one with the nipples - every morning under your costume, on the set, off the set, hanging upside down at lunch. You rock, man
Best supporting actress Tilda Swinton thanks co-star George Clooney, in her winner's speech, for providing light relief during the filming of Michael Clayton

Thank you to the Coens for being crazy enough to think that I could do that and put one of the most horrible haircuts in history over my head
Javier Bardem, picking up his best supporting actor award, on the haircut of his hitman character Anton Chigurh in No Country For Old Men

In case you're wondering what we all do here during the commercial breaks, mostly we just sit around making catty remarks about the outfits you're all wearing at home
Presenter Jon Stewart on advertisement breaks

Thank you, Jon, for that kind introduction - you never cease to amaze me with your constant need for attention
Award presenter and star of the US version of The Office, Steve Carell, responding to Stewart's introduction

Thank God. I've finally grown up. I've never felt grown up - I'd feel angry if I felt grown up
Best actor nominee George Clooney, on the red carpet, on finally being nominated in the best actor category

We were asleep and, of course, dad was waiting up to hear what happened. Then we just heard him scream and we thought, 'Do you know what? I might just be nominated for an Oscar'
Saoirse Ronan, 13, on how she found out about her best supporting actress nomination

I think most of the people here are quite excited. There's not that many people that are over it, even if they're doing an impression of being over it
Atonement star James McAvoy on acting cool

I watch it while it's being put together but once it's done I feel like it's none of my business any more
Daniel Day-Lewis ON why he does not watch his finished films

I did celebrate - some running charades [party game], maybe a couple of drinks. I'm not going to lie
Juno star and best actress nominee Ellen Page on turning 21 this week

Japan's economy slumps as global crisis widens

Japan's economy slumps as global crisis widens
Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:21am EST

By Yuzo Saeki

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan sank deeper into recession with its worst quarterly contraction in 35 years, data showed on Monday, its reliance on exports and soft domestic demand dragging down the world's second-largest economy.

The grim Japanese figures, coupled with disappointment over the lack of coordinated action from the G7 and worries about bank rescue plans pushed European shares down by 0.6 percent in morning trade.

In Rome, G7 financial leaders, fearing a 1930s-style resurgence in protectionism, pledged at the weekend to do all they could to fight recession, but major world economies still faced the biggest downturn in decades.

"The outlook for the global and euro area economy in 2009 appears dismal," European Central Bank Governing Council member George Provopoulos said on Monday.

"The current crisis is the biggest since the 1930s and exiting from it will not be easy or quick."

India said government spending may have to rise sharply this year to shield the economy from the global credit crunch. The announcement in an interim budget worried investors and credit rating agency Standard and Poors said it planned to review the Asian giant's domestic debt rating.

MINI JOB CUTS

In Britain, falling demand worldwide forced German car maker BMW to announce it was shedding 850 jobs and cutting back production of the Mini at its factory near Oxford in central England.

Singapore Airlines said it planned to cut capacity by 11 percent in the year from April in the face of waning travel and cargo demand.

The German government is considering emergency measures to rescue the stricken bank Hypo Real Estate, whose shares have fallen by 97 percent over the last 18 months.

In Europe, the Czech Republic approved an economic stimulus package, Hungary announced plans to raise value-added tax to help boost the economy, and Bulgaria said its economic growth nearly halved in the fourth quarter of last year.

With U.S. and Japanese interest rates already close to zero, G7 leaders had to look beyond conventional economic tools once they cannot cut rates any further, with a possible return to Japan's experiment with quantitative easing earlier this decade.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet foreshadowed "non-standard measures" to tackle the crisis, but said the ECB had not drawn any conclusions after discussions with other central banks.

Trichet gave no concrete plans, but it was hoped he would provide more clues with an address at 1445 GMT (9:45 a.m. EST) on Monday.

So-called quantitative easing, in which banks buy assets to raise money supply and boost demand, is now being considered by most of the world's major central banks.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has begun what it calls "credit easing" and the Bank of England could follow within a month.

The ECB held interest rates at 2 percent this month, but figures last week showing the euro zone economy had shrunk 1.5 percent in the 2008 fourth quarter meant a cut to a record low of 1.5 percent was likely next month.

GLOBAL CRISIS

Even though Japan has been relatively insulated from the collapse of the U.S. credit and housing markets that precipitated the global crisis, Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano said his country faced its worst economic crisis since World War Two.

With demand for its cars and electronics waning, an unprecedented slump in exports saw Japan's economy shrink by 3.3 percent, marking three straight quarters of contraction and its worst result since the first oil crisis in 1974.

Adding to the Japanese government's woes, finance minister Shoichi Nakagawa faced calls for his resignation on Monday after denying he was drunk at a G7 news conference. He said he had taken too much cough medicine.

Japan has suffered a sharper contraction than other major economies because of its heavy dependence on exports combined with persistently soft domestic consumption.

"The data showed a severe picture of the Japanese economy and highlighted the weakness in exports," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute.

Japanese investors had largely factored in a big fall in GDP, limiting losses after the data was released.

The Nikkei share average fell 0.4 percent. The yen rose against other major currencies despite the bad GDP data after the G7 financial chiefs made no specific mention of the strength of the Japanese currency.

In the United States, President Barack Obama will on Tuesday sign a $787 billion economic stimulus package which it is hoped will save or create 3.5 million jobs.

Administration officials said Obama would form a task force to oversee the restructuring of the ailing U.S. auto industry.

General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC are due to submit new turnaround plans by Tuesday showing they can be made viable again after receiving $13.4 billion in emergency aid from the former Bush administration last year.

(Additional reporting by Sumeet Desai in Rome, Elaine Lees in Tokyo, Kevin Krolicki in Detroit, and Reuters bureaux around the world; Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Alison Williams)

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

Student Spots Error

Error on state test slips past everyone -- except East High student
BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS - The Wichita Eagle
Geoffrey Stanford's teachers always tell him to read tests carefully.
Every sentence. Every word. Slow down. Make sure you understand what's being asked, and then proceed.
So while taking his state writing test last week, the East High junior saw something that didn't make sense: The word "emission" -- as in "the emission of greenhouse gases" -- was spelled "omission."
"I thought, 'Surely they're not talking about leaving out carbon dioxide altogether.' It just didn't make sense," said Stanford, 17. "It had to be a mistake."
It was.
Stanford, a linebacker and International Baccalaureate student, alerted English teacher Jennifer Fry, who alerted the district test coordinator, who alerted state education officials, who were, as you might imagine, embarrassed.
"You hate that sort of thing to happen, but it happens," said Karla Denny, spokeswoman for the State Department of Education, which created the test. "We're human."
This week, the department e-mailed test coordinators across the state to alert them to the error and provide a corrected version of the writing prompt.
Denny said the test was developed by a committee of more than 30 teachers from across the state. The five questions -- writing prompts from which students must craft persuasive essays -- were written almost two years ago and tested in 50 high schools last spring.
No one before Stanford had reported the error, Denny said.
"It amazes me. This went through all the channels, and the pilot project, and nobody caught it," said Denny, a former English teacher.
"I think it's one of those things where the people writing the test were so close to it, they probably just read over it. It looked right."
Fry, the IB English teacher, said she was disappointed to see an error on the state test, but not surprised one of her students caught it.
"They're perceptive readers," she said.
Stanford, who prefers math to literature and plans to study mechanical engineering or sports medicine, said he doesn't consider himself a fabulous proofreader.
"But when I edit my own papers, I'm a stickler for grammar and vocabulary and the correct use of words," he said. "It annoys me when I see mistakes."
He and Fry shared a laugh over the test error. It reminded them of a book the class read recently -- Thomas C. Foster's "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" -- in which Foster proclaims, "Irony trumps everything."
"What is this," Stanford said, "if not ironic?"

Religious police break hearts in Saudi Arabia

Photocredit : OXYMANUS
Religious police break hearts in Saudi Arabia

By DONNA ABU-NASR – ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Just days before Valentine's Day, a young Saudi woman desperately searched for a red teddy bear to buy for her boyfriend. But all Nof Faisal could find were blue and white ones, minus the "I love you" she wanted hers to declare.

It's not because the store couldn't keep up with demand. It is because fear of the religious police forced the store's owner to strip the shelves of all red items, including the hottest-selling item: heart-festooned red plastic handcuffs inscribed, "Take me, I'm yours."

As Feb. 14 approaches, the police begin inspecting gift shops for items that are red or are intended as gifts to mark the holiday — a celebration of St. Valentine, a 3rd century Christian martyr — which is banned in Saudi Arabia. Such items are legal at other times of the year, but as Valentine's Day nears they become contraband.

At best, shops caught selling Valentine's gifts are ordered to get rid of them. Some salesmen have been detained for days.

The Valentine's Day prohibition is in line with the ascetic Wahhabi school of Islam that the kingdom follows. Marking Christian holidays is banned in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and a country where non-Muslims are banned from openly practicing their religion.

Celebrating any holidays but the two most important for Muslims — Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr_ is taboo because they are considered "religious innovations" that Islam does not sanction. Even birthdays and Mother's Day are frowned on by the religious establishment.

As Feb. 14 approaches, newspapers reprint a fatwa or religious edict issued by scholars a few years ago, declaring "eid al-hob," Arabic for the feast of love, a "Christian, pagan feast" that Muslims should not celebrate. Teachers remind students they must not mark the festival, and girls are warned against wearing anything red.

Nevertheless, Valentine's Day quietly creeps into the capital, Riyadh: While gift stores don't trumpet their Valentine's wares, they acquire a deep red hue as shelves are stocked with artificial flowers, heart-shaped frames and other knickknacks.

Lingerie stores display red lacy underwear and sheer short nighties. Boxes packed with teddy bears, some inscribed with "I love you," appear on supermarket shelves. Newspapers advertise diamond and ruby heart-shaped pendants.

And salesmen urge shoppers to snap up their gifts early because no one knows when the religious police will begin their rounds.

"My colleague spent a night in jail last year because of the color red," said one salesman, who insisted on anonymity, fearing his colleague's fate.

It is a challenge for courting Saudi couples to be together at any time of the year because of strict gender segregation. Unmarried men and women cannot take a drive together, have a meal or even talk on the street unless they are close relatives. Dating consists of long phone conversations and the rare tryst. Infractions are punished by detention.

"I wish things were different," said Faisal, a 20-year-old student, who said she would like to be wined and dined by her boyfriend. She has arranged to have red roses, a red box containing perfume, chocolate and a CD of love songs delivered to him.

Abdul-Aziz al-Shammari bought his girlfriend 10 red roses — one for each month he's known her — five days before Valentine's Day and stored the bouquet in his refrigerator to keep it fresh.

"I don't consider it a day venerating (St.) Valentine," said al-Shammari, a 24-year-old student. "I see it as an international day of love."

For at least businessmen, the commercial draw of the holiday was too strong.

Waleed al-Khuleiwi's store was perhaps the only one in Riyadh still brimming with Valentine's goods with just days to go.

His cheeky defense: "I'm not selling the items with the intention of celebrating Valentine's."

Bush's Economic Mistakes

Photocredit : SHAMSHOON2001 on Flikr

Bush's Economic Mistakes - By JUSTIN FOX - Excerpt from TIME.COM
Introduction -
George Bush is leaving the White House with a dismal economic record. By almost every measure — GDP growth, jobs, median incomes, financial-market performance — he stacks up as probably the least-successful President on the economic front since Herbert Hoover.
It's not all Bush's fault. He inherited an inevitable recession in 2001, and even last year's financial collapse was to some extent the result of unsustainable trends in place long before he moved to Washington. Also, we generally give Presidents both more credit and more blame for economic outcomes than they probably deserve. As Bush mock-moaned in his final White House press conference, "Why did the financial collapse have to happen on my watch?"
His next words, though, were, "It's just pathetic, isn't it, self-pity?" So let's spare him the pity. As the decider in the White House for the past eight years, George Bush made some economic calls that don't look smart today. Here are eight of them.
1. The Return to Deficits
When President Bush took office in 2001, Republicans and Democrats in Washington had built a strong consensus on the need for fiscal responsibility. Bush blew that apart within a few months. With the country in a recession, a temporary return to deficits was inevitable. But Bush's tax cuts and spending increases — and clear disdain for the pay-as-you-go approach that had brought deficits down in the 1990s — brought a return to permanent deficits. These actions almost certainly didn't cause the current crisis, but they have left the Federal Government in a much weaker position to combat it.

2. Iraq
Doing a cost-benefit analysis on a war is awfully hard. There are just too many what-ifs. But the cost of invading and occupying Iraq has been staggeringly high — whether you believe the $3 trillion figure of economists Linda Bilmes and Joseph Stiglitz or side with the Congressional Budget Office estimate of a mere trillion or two. It's the biggest part of the explanation for the yawning Bush-era budget deficits. So even if you think the war did bring benefits to the U.S., they would have to be pretty gigantic to justify the cost.
3. Tax Cuts for the Rich
When Ronald Reagan slashed taxes on capital gains and high earners in the early 1980s, inflation was pushing the middle class into top tax brackets, financial markets had been stuck in a funk for 15 years and income inequality had been declining for almost five decades. Like him or not, the man's actions fit the times — and the U.S. economy boomed for most of his two terms in office. Bush came to Washington facing almost diametrically opposing economic conditions, yet he offered up the same solutions as Reagan. Guess what: they weren't what the economy needed.

4. Financial Regulation
The only major piece of regulatory legislation enacted during the Bush years was the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which dramatically increased regulation of corporate financial disclosures. The really big regulatory changes being pointed to now as possible culprits for the crisis date back to Bush's predecessors: Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, even Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. So the popular Democratic refrain that "Bush-era deregulation" is to blame for our troubles is a little hard to square with the evidence. What is true is that most Bush-era financial regulators were less than enthusiastic about the very act of regulating, and that Bush's "ownership society" push glossed over a lot of potential dangers. Bush didn't cause the financial regulatory breakdown, but he didn't jump in to fix it either.

5. Telling Us to Go Shopping
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President Bush didn't call for sacrifice. He called for shopping. "Get down to Disney World in Florida," he said. "Take your families and enjoy life, the way we want it to be enjoyed." Taken on its own, this wasn't such a horrible sentiment. But Boston University historian Andrew Bacevich has made a convincing case that it was part of a broader pattern of encouraging financial irresponsibility. "Bush seems to have calculated — cynically but correctly — that prolonging the credit-fueled consumer binge could help keep complaints about his performance as Commander in Chief from becoming more than a nuisance," Bacevich wrote in the Washington Post in October. Now we're paying the bill.

6. Energy Policy
Not much to say here, except that there wasn't an energy policy. Again, this wasn't new to the Bush era. But with a years-long oil-price slide finally coming to an end not long before he took office, the President's (and Vice President's) unwillingness to take serious steps to reduce the country's dependence on fossil fuels left the country vulnerable and way behind the rest of the developed world in preparing for a post-oil future.

7. A State of Denial
Every Administration spins and sugarcoats the economic truth. But the Bush White House took this disingenuousness to new levels. The surest way to get yourself fired as a Bush economic adviser was to say something that was true. Paul O'Neill was ousted from Treasury for warning about deficits. Larry Lindsey was kicked out of the top White House economic job for predicting in 2002 that the Iraq war would cost $100 billion to $200 billion — far below the actual cost but much more than what the White House was officially projecting. This disdain for reality, and for expertise, pervaded the Bush economic approach, and made it impossible for the Administration to react intelligently to real-world economic problems like the housing bubble.

8. The Muddled Bailout
It could have been much, much worse. For the first time, Bush gave someone with more expertise than political bona fides — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — control over economic policy and didn't let the hacks in the White House undercut him. Paulson's financial rescue has been awfully messy and expensive, but one shudders to think what might have happened if his much weaker predecessor, John Snow, had still been in charge at Treasury when trouble struck. The main problem has been the ambivalence with which both Paulson and the White House have approached the financial rescue. They backed into it, never articulating clear principles for how it should work. That's yet another thing the new Administration is going have to rectify.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Clinton Says Don't Blame Him for the Economic Crisis – TIME Excerpt

Mon Feb 16, 4:50 pm ET

Given the sweep and severity of today's global economic crisis, it would seem there's plenty of blame to go around. But Bill Clinton doesn't think any of it should fall on his shoulders.

On Monday morning's Today Show, Ann Curry's interview with the former president - recorded over the weekend outside a Clinton Global Initiative event in Texas - addressed Clinton's inclusion on TIME's list of the "25 People to Blame" for the global economic collapse. "Oh no," he responded, "My question to them is: Do any of them seriously believe if I had been president, and my economic team had been in place the last eight years, that this would be happening today? I think they know the answer to that: No." (See TIME's list of the 25 people to blame for the collapse)

The magazine's story, which apportioned blame widely between such figures as Countrywide co-founder Angelo Mozilo, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld and President George W. Bush, zeroed in on two specific economic policy decisions made during the Clinton administration. Clinton ushered out the Glass-Steagall Act, which for decades had separated commercial and investment banking, and signed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act - which exempted all derivatives, including the now-notorious credit-default swaps, from federal regulation. His administration also loosened housing rules, which added pressure on banks to lend in low-income neighborhoods.

"None of it was an endorsement of permissive lending and risk-taking," the magazine concluded. "But if you believe deregulation is to blame for our troubles, then Clinton earned a share too."

In a separate interview this past weekend with CNN, Clinton did allow that his administration could have done more to "set in motion some more formal regulation of the derivatives market," but he also vehemently denied that the repeal of Glass-Steagall or his administration's housing policies helped cause the financial crisis. Both interviews took place only hours after the Senate passed the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, which President Barack Obama is expected to pass into law Tuesday.

Earlier in the interview, Clinton told Curry that he agreed with the assessment of Dennis Blair, President Obama's director of national intelligence, that the world financial crisis has surpassed terrorism as the country's most significant "near-term" security concern. He also gave the new president high marks for the way he's used his first month on the job: "I think he's off to a good start ... Given the fact that they had to do it in a hurry, and he had to deal with Congress and the inevitable compromises, I think he got quite a good bill out of this. This package that he's going to sign is our bridge over troubled waters."

As for who troubled those waters, it's still up for debate.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Time Magazine's 25 people to blame for the financial crisis

Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, February 13th 2009, 5:48 AM

Meet the Dirty Two-Dozen who have driven the nation's economy into the ditch - then look in the mirror and see who else is to blame.

Topping Time magazine's list of the 25 people to blame for the economic mess is Angelo Mozilo, the high-living former Countrywide CEO who helped cause the nation's massive mortgage meltdown by handing out loans to poor saps who could never afford to pay them back.

Next on the list is another genius, former GOP Sen. Phil Gramm, who pushed through our clueless Congress legislation in 1999 that dismantled Depression-era protections that were put in place to prevent ... another Depression.

When millions of Americans started losing their jobs and life savings last years, Gramm called us a "nation of whiners."

Third was former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who had the nerve to go before Congress last year and acknowledge he was "shocked" that his hands-off Wall Street approach helped tank the economy.

That said, we regular folks get a spanking from Time magazine, too.

For borrowing to the hilt and blowing all that dough instead of saving it for the future, the American Consumer ranked No. 5 on Time's list - right behind Christopher Cox, the former SEC chairman who was blind to the $50 billion Ponzi scheme that Bernard Madoff (No. 19) engineered.

The list includes some characters who arguably could rank first, second, or third, like No. 6, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, or No. 7, former AIG honcho Joe Cassano.

Then there's No. 11, Dick Fuld, a poster boy for greed who made half-a-billion dollars as he drove Lehman Brothers into the dust.

No suprise, former President George Bush made the list at No. 14 because, as Time put it, "the meltdown happened on Bush's watch."

What may surprise many is that Bill Clinton was ranked 13th on Time's list, although he presided over an economic boom during the 1990s.

Muslim in America: a 'voyage of discovery' - CNN Excerpt

February 9, 2009 -- Updated 2207 GMT (0607 HKT)

Muslim in America: a 'voyage of discovery'


By Jessica Ravitz
CNN
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Hailey Woldt put on the traditional black abaya, expecting the worst.

The last time she'd worn the Muslim dress that, with a head scarf, covered everything but her face, hands and feet, she was in Miami International Airport, where the stares were many and the security check thorough.

This time, she was in a small town called Arab. Arab, Alabama, no less.

"I expected people to say, 'What is this terrorist doing here? We don't want your kind here,' " said Woldt, a 22-year-old blue-eyed Catholic, recalling her anticipation before stepping into a local barbecue joint. "I thought I wouldn't even be served."

Instead, Woldt's experiment in social anthropology opened her own eyes. Apart from the initial glances reserved for any outsider who might venture through a small-town restaurant's doors, her experience was a pleasant one.

On her way to the bathroom, Woldt said, "One woman's jaw dropped, but then she smiled at me. ... That little smile just makes you feel so much better."

This unexpected experience has just been one of Woldt's takeaway moments on her current journey. She is one in a team of five mostly 20-something Americans, led by an esteemed Muslim scholar, who are crisscrossing the nation on an anthropological mission. Their purpose: to discuss American identity, Muslim identity, and find out how well this country upholds its ideals in a post-September 11 world.

Leading this six-month charge, which began in the fall, is Akbar Ahmed, the Islamic studies chairman at American University in Washington. His drive to do this was beyond academic.

"As a social scientist ... as a Muslim, it was almost my moral duty ... to be involved in some way in the exercise of talking about, explaining, debating [and] discussing Islam," explained Ahmed, 65, who took a year's sabbatical to focus his energies. "After 9/11, Islam became the most talked-about, controversial, debated, hated and, really, mystified religion in America. I just couldn't sit it out."

So Ahmed devised the project that's been dubbed Journey into America. This "voyage of discovery," as he called it, is an offshoot of a 2006 endeavor that took him, and a few of those traveling with him now (including Woldt), into the Muslim world abroad. That initial trip involving visits to mosques, madrassas (religious schools) and private homes from Syria to Indonesia became the basis of Ahmed's book, "Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization."

He said during the recent Atlanta, Georgia, leg of the journey that although the trip abroad helped answer many questions about how Americans are viewed overseas, it failed to paint a complete picture.

"These questions Americans were asking [about Muslims] could not be answered without Americans looking at themselves ... and looking at Muslims in the context of their own culture and society," the professor explained. The group needed "to talk to Muslims and examine what they knew about American culture, American society and how they actually adjusted or assimilated or integrated -- or not -- into larger American society."

To that end, the team has hung out with a black Muslim rapper in Buffalo, New York; met with Latino Muslims in Miami, Florida; and swapped stories with refugees, dotting the country, from places as diverse as Bosnia, Afghanistan and Somalia. Photo See photos from their journey »

They've withstood the winds at Ellis Island in New York and on the shores of Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts, walked the neon-splattered streets of Las Vegas, Nevada, and navigated the country roads of the South.

Along the way, they've weighed in with academics, other religious leaders, law enforcement officials and activists. Many of the group's meetings and visits are chronicled in their blog.

The importance of this work became apparent to Frankie Martin years ago.

The 25-year-old Episcopalian, whose father works for the government, was living in Kenya when U.S. embassies in East Africa were bombed in August 1998, killing hundreds and highlighting the threat of al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.

"I remember coming back to the U.S. and talking about these issues [relations between Islam and the West], and people were just blank," he said. Then, September 11 rocked the United States, and he entered college at American University "wanting to know why this is happening and what could be done about it.... I wanted to learn more about the Muslim world, understand the religion of Islam and improve relations."

Part of the process involves pushing themselves to stand where they've never stood before.

At October's Muslim Day parade in New York, Craig Considine, 23, threw himself into the middle of protesters to witness and film a volley of venomous words. Among them were insults against Prophet Mohammed, which prompted heated rhetoric from both sides, as people hurled taunts at each other.

The young filmmaker said he didn't feel a thing until he walked away, turned his camera off and allowed himself to think.

"Both sides, the protesters and the responders, were all Americans and completely failed to see eye-to-eye," he explained. "I was just very disappointed. ... I don't think I've ever seen hatred like that in my whole life."

Jonathan Hayden, who's worked for Ahmed for nearly five years, pointed out that even the less heated moments can be enlightening.

He told the story of answering a tear-filled question posed by a Midwestern woman who admitted that she'd never met a Muslim.

" 'Do they love their children?' " Hayden, 30, remembered her asking. "We were able to tell her that, yes, they love their children. ... But the fact that she asked that question told us so much."

The group's central goal is to highlight the need to understand Islam, something they hope to further accomplish through a book Ahmed will write and a documentary they hope to produce.

"The Muslim world population is 1.4 billion people. By the middle of the century, one out of four people will be Muslim. ... [There are] 57 Muslim countries today. Think of the number," Ahmed said. "America -- as a superpower, as a world leader -- needs to be able to interact in a positive way with one-fourth of the world's population."

He estimated that there are 7 million Muslims and counting in the United States today. And their dreams and hopes, Ahmed and the others are convinced, aren't any different from those of their neighbors.

Sheikh Salahadin Wazir, who had dinner with the group and invited its members to his Atlanta-area mosque for Friday afternoon prayers, praised the project.

"It's important to hear what Muslims are all about from a Muslim perspective. We are law-abiding citizens. We are professionals," said Wazir, as he stood outside Masjid Al-Momineen in Clarkston, Georgia. "A lot of our children are going to school, getting a higher education, and the future is bright."

For Madeeha Hameed, 21, being part of this project has been especially personal. The senior at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, who took last semester off to travel as much as she could but has since gone back to school, moved to northern Virginia from Pakistan right before high school -- and right before the September 11 attacks.

"It was very difficult for me. ... You know how high school is," she said. "I did not want to be known as a Muslim or a Pakistani, because I just wanted to fit in. I had a lot of anger toward my identity."

Reading Ahmed's books, getting the opportunity to tag along on this current journey, "definitely helped me embrace my identity" and helped her to appreciate all that surrounds her, she said. "There are so many aspects of this country, and of Islam, that I wasn't aware of."
____________________________________________________________________________________
Man says he was informant for FBI in Orange County

He identifies himself in a court filing as having infiltrated mosques in Orange County on behalf of the agency.
By Teresa Watanabe and Scott Glover
February 26, 2009
As federal authorities press their case against a Tustin man accused of lying about ties to Al-Qaeda, they disclosed this week that some evidence came from an informant who infiltrated Orange County mosques and allegedly recorded the defendant discussing jihad, weapons and plans to blow up abandoned buildings.

On Wednesday, a man who claims to be that informant stepped forward, filing court documents saying that he had served as a confidential informant for the FBI from July 2006 to October 2007 to identify and thwart terrorist operations in the Orange County Islamic community.

The claim by Craig Monteilh, a 46-year-old Irvine resident, that he had been sent by the FBI to infiltrate several Orange County mosques could affect the government's case against Ahmadullah Sais Niazi. His allegations highlight recurring issues about the use of informants by law enforcement agencies and have fanned long-held fears by some Muslim leaders about religious profiling.

Monteilh said in interviews that he had alerted the FBI to Niazi after meeting him at the Islamic Center of Irvine in November 2006 and spending eight months with him. Monteilh said he called himself Farouk Al-Aziz and posed as a Syrian-French American in search of his Islamic roots. Monteilh told the FBI that Niazi befriended him and began to lecture him about jihad, gave him lessons in bomb-making and discussed plots to blow up Orange County landmarks.

"He took me under his wing and began to radicalize me," Monteilh said.

The FBI declined to comment on Monteilh's allegations, which could not be independently verified. Niazi's attorney, deputy federal public defender Chase Scolnick, also declined to comment.

But an FBI agent's testimony in the case Tuesday and interviews with Muslim leaders both appeared to bolster some of Monteilh's assertions about his role in the case.

Special Agent Thomas J. Ropel III testified at a bail hearing for Niazi that the defendant had been secretly recorded by an informant while initiating jihadist rhetoric and threatening to blow up abandoned buildings. Ropel did not name Monteilh but testified that the agency's informant was the same man Muslims had reported to the FBI as an extremist. In June 2007, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported Monteilh to the FBI as a possible terrorist, said Hussam Ayloush, the council's executive director in Anaheim.

Ayloush said he was "100% sure" that Monteilh was the informant in question and expressed anger and disappointment that the FBI would infiltrate mosques. He accused officials of trying to entrap innocent Muslims, noting that Monteilh has been convicted of grand theft and forgery in the past. He said Muslims had worked hard to develop a partnership with the FBI -- and had been assured by J. Steven Tidwell, then assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles field office, at an Irvine forum in 2006 that their mosques were not being monitored. Now, Ayloush said, he has doubts about future relations with the FBI.

"This is religious profiling at its worst," Ayloush said about the FBI operation.

The Afghanistan-born Niazi, 34, was arrested last week and is scheduled to be arraigned next month on suspicion of perjury, naturalization fraud, misuse of a passport obtained by fraud and making a false statement to a federal agency. Niazi, who has lived in the United States since 1998 and earned citizenship five years ago, is related by marriage to Amin al-Haq, an Afghan militant who fought the Soviet occupation of the 1980s with a U.S.-backed Islamic resistance force that now is branded an Al Qaeda affiliate. Niazi is accused of failing to disclose those ties during his application for citizenship.

Niazi asserted after his arrest last week that he is an innocent man who is being retaliated against by the FBI for refusing to become an informant.

In Tuesday's bail hearing, Ropel asserted that Niazi was a danger to the community who should be held without bail. But prosecutors offered no testimony regarding the specific plots Monteilh says he told the FBI that he discussed with Niazi, allegedly involving attacks on Orange County shopping centers, military installations and court buildings. Nor was there any testimony about other mosque members allegedly having been involved in those or other terrorist activities, as Monteilh maintains was the case.

Ayloush said he had received numerous complaints from Muslims in 2007 that Monteilh was aggressively promoting terrorist plots and trying to recruit others to join him. Citing such behavior and saying that it made members of the mosque feel threatened, the Islamic Center of Irvine won a temporary restraining order in June 2007 that barred Monteilh from the mosque.

Monteilh filed a petition Wednesday to lift the restraining order, saying that he wanted to clear his name from any suspicion of terrorist activity. He had not contested the original order, he said, because he had been instructed by the FBI not to testify at the hearing. But he said he was speaking out now because the FBI had allegedly violated pledges to remove the restraining order, place him in a witness protection program, give him a final payment of $100,000 and grant other benefits in an exit package.

"Although the FBI has not fulfilled their promises, I am proud to have participated in the War on Terror," Monteilh said in the petition.

Monteilh, burly and bald, said he first began working for the FBI in late 2003 as an informant on white supremacist and narcotics cases after making connections with the Aryan Brotherhood during a prison stint for forgery. In 2006, he alleges, he agreed to infiltrate mosques.

During two weeks of training, Monteilh said in an interview with The Times, he was taught about Islam, Arabic, self-defense and weapons. He said he was outfitted with video and audio recording devices and given specific names of people to monitor. Monteilh said he also was instructed to progress slowly in his embrace of Islam to make his conversion seem natural -- wearing Western clothes initially and then eventually growing a beard and donning an Egyptian robe, shawl and head cap.

In August 2006, Monteilh said, he approached his first target: the Islamic Center of Irvine. There, he alleges, he made his declaration of the Islamic faith known as shahada and, as instructed by his FBI handlers, posed as a serious student of Islam.

Several Muslims began to embrace him, he told the FBI, and by December he was approached by Niazi. The pair dined at an Islamic Chinese restaurant in Anaheim and hit it off after Monteilh pledged that he would do everything he could to protect Muslims from harm by infidels. He described Niazi as highly intelligent, devout, resourceful and scholarly, with a temperate mien overlaying the passion of his cause.

In an interview, Monteilh alleged that he told the FBI that Niazi told him that he had been one of 200 people who greeted Osama Bin Laden in 1996 when he took refuge in Afghanistan after being expelled from Sudan. Niazi called Bin Laden an "angel," Monteilh said -- an assertion that FBI Agent Ropel repeated this week as information gleaned from the agency's informant. Ropel testified Tuesday that Niazi told the informant that it was his "duty to engage in violent jihad."

Over a year, Monteilh further related in an interview, the FBI paid him sums ranging from $2,500 a month to as high as $11,200.

Monteilh said he was cut loose as an informant in fall 2007 because members of the mosque he infiltrated began to suspect that he was working with the FBI.

Kenneth Piernick, a former FBI counter-terrorism official who is a consultant in Virginia, said parsing out what's true and what's not, even from someone deemed to be a reliable informant, can be challenging.

"You don't go talk to choirboys to get information on thugs," said Piernick, who retired from the bureau in 2003.

He said informants can be egotistical, manipulative and dishonest. Those who are getting paid, he said, have been known to "exaggerate information, or even invent it" to keep the money flowing.

Piernick said common reasons for discontinuing an informant include low-quality or unreliable information.

"In other words, he's not worth the effort," Piernick said.

teresa.watanabe@latimes.com

scott.glover@latimes.com

Times staff writer Christine Hanley contributed to this report.

The Grammy Awards Tonight

MUSIC TO THEIR EARS

Critics may argue the relevance of the Grammys, but performers know the award gives them a shot at fame

By David Lindquist
Posted: February 6, 2009

Grammy Awards season is prime time to criticize music's top prize.

And critics will be in full gab-mode during tonight's 51st annual Grammy Awards show, held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Some detractors will say the list of nominees and winners is behind the times, while others will say it's filled with fleeting fads.

But the energy devoted to complaining about the Grammys -- "The Eagles make 'pop' music?" or "The Jonas Brothers are in the running for Best New Artist?" -- validates its importance, says Blender magazine associate editor Lizzy Goodman.

"There's no other annual event in music that inspires as much debate and taking stock of where we are with this whole pop culture thing," Goodman says.

Grammy voters may have missed the pop-culture mark by making Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" Album of the Year in 2008 or making Steely Dan's "Two Against Nature" Album of the Year in 2001.

While neither recording generated much buzz before Grammy night, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences president Neil Portnow says the 12,000 voters of his organization pay no heed to hype.

The Grammy is a peer award, unlike the fan-based American Music Award or sales-based Billboard Music Award.

"We are very specific that it's about quality and excellence," Portnow says. "That's what we're looking for. It's not about sales. It's not about popularity or affiliations."

Skepticism regarding the relevance of the Grammys isn't new to Portnow, who responds by touting the show as appointment television, thanks to recent landmark performances:

» Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunited for the first time in 10 years for the 2003 show.

» Prince and Beyoncé Knowles joined forces for a fiery show opener in 2004.

» The Police launched a high-profile reunion tour by playing the 2007 Grammys.

Tonight's show will feature rock band Radiohead making its first live television appearance in the United States since 2000.

"Even a band like Radiohead, considered the leaders of a very credible counterculture movement within music, are willing to show up and want to be a part of the Grammys," Blender's Goodman says. "That says something about the pull and power of the event."

Airing in 170 countries, the Grammys represent a worldwide coming-out party for emerging artists.

This year, female R&B artists dot the "Big Four" general categories of Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist.

The class of 2009 includes Adele (a nominee for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist), Duffy (Best New Artist), Estelle (Song of the Year), Jazmine Sullivan (Best New Artist) and M.I.A. (Record of the Year).

The retro soul sounds of Adele and Duffy won over Indianapolis-based vocalist Lynda Sayyah.

"I don't think they're as mainstream, and I don't think they'll ever be mainstream because of their music," Sayyah says. "It's not club pop like Rihanna, but I do like their styles."

A strong showing on Grammy night can translate into a spike in popularity for an artist. Jazz icon Hancock, for instance, enjoyed a 967 percent sales bump the week after last year's win. The purchase of 54,000 albums nearly equaled all of "River's" sales during the previous four months.

In some cases, a Grammy nomination is enough to boost a career.

"How many people Googled Jazmine Sullivan's name when the nominations were announced?" Goodman says. "She's had a really big single ("Need U Bad") and very genre-specific support thus far, but this is a bigger deal. People are paying attention now."

Portnow says the Grammys aim to provide viewers with "discovery opportunities," which can become "career-changing, life-changing" moments for musicians.

Adele, Duffy, Estelle, Sullivan and M.I.A. could use some luck at Indianapolis pop radio station WZPL-FM (99.5).

Program director and on-air personality Dave Decker says Duffy's "Mercy" single spent a month in rotation but didn't catch on with listeners.

Estelle's "American Boy" received some airplay because of high-profile guest Kanye West.

"If Adele wins a Grammy, are we -- as a mass- appeal, adult Top 40 station -- going to start playing all her songs? Probably not," Decker says. "It doesn't hurt her, but I don't think it means people instantly love her music."

It's not easy for modern musicians to enter mainstream pop culture, Goodman says.

Tonight, Adele and Estelle will sing for millions of television viewers, plus a live audience of 15,000 at the Staples Center.

"It's not enough to be on 'Saturday Night Live,' " Goodman says. "You have to have a perfect storm of awareness-boosting moments, and (the Grammys telecast) is certainly one of them."
Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404.


NOMINEES 2009
Record of the Year
"Chasing Pavements," Adele
"Viva La Vida," Coldplay
"Bleeding Love," Leona Lewis
"Paper Planes, " M.I.A.
"Please Read the Letter," Robert Plant & Alison Krauss


Album of the Year
"Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends," Coldplay
"Tha Carter III," Lil Wayne
"Year of the Gentleman, " Ne-Yo
"Raising Sand," Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
"In Rainbows," Radiohead


Song of the Year
"American Boy," William Adams, Keith Harris, Josh Lopez, Caleb Speir, John Stephens, Estelle Swaray & Kanye West, songwriters (Estelle featuring Kanye West)
"Chasing Pavements," Adele Adkins & Eg White, songwriters (Adele )
"I'm Yours," Jason Mraz, songwriter (Jason Mraz)
"Love Song," Sara Bareilles, songwriter (Sara Bareilles)
"Viva La Vida," Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion & Chris Martin, songwriters (Coldplay)

Best New Artist
Adele
Duffy
Jonas Brothers
Lady Antebellum
Jazmine Sullivan

_____________________________________________________________________________________

AND THE WINNER IS............................

Plant, Krauss win 5 Grammys; Brown booked

02/09/2009 1:01 AM, AP
Nekesa Mumbi Moody

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' unorthodox partnership yielded rich rewards on Grammy night, as the pair nabbed five awards for their haunting "Raising Sand," including record and album of the year honors.

But their sweep was overshadowed before the show even began when police announced that Chris Brown, himself a double nominee and scheduled performer, was being investigated for allegedly assaulting an unidentified woman the night before. Brown turned himself in to authorities and was briefly held before posting $50,000 bail Sunday night, jail records showed.

Brown and longtime girlfriend Rihanna, also nominated, were both slated to perform in different slots of the show, but separately dropped out at the last minute. The victim of Brown's alleged assault wasn't identified, and it wasn't immediately clear whether Rihanna's absence was related to Brown's.

Police booked the 19-year-old R&B singer and dancer on suspicion of making a criminal threat, a felony. Police did not explain how their initial report of an injury assault related to the charge, but it will ultimately be up to the district attorney's office to decide what charges, if any, should be brought against Brown.

Back at the Staples Center, Lil Wayne entered the evening with the most nominations with eight, and went home with four, including rap album of the year.

The pairing of the former Led Zeppelin rocker and Krauss, a bluegrass queen, may have seemed downright weird on paper, but the T Bone Burnett-produced album was universally acclaimed and highlighted Krauss' unique mastery of different musical styles. Subdued but emotionally stirring, "Raising Sand" was an artistic triumph for both artists, and perhaps demonstrated why Krauss is the most decorated female artist in Grammy history with 26.

"We ostensibly come from such different places on the musical map. There are radical differences in the ways we've gone about enjoying our lives as musicians," Plant said backstage after the show. "Alison has shown me so much of the America I've never been exposed to. There's so many songs in the air. America needs to know what it's songs are all about."

Plant and Krauss had already won a Grammy last year for "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" from "Raising Sand," bringing the record's haul to six. The single was released in time for Grammy contention that year, while the CD was not.

Jennifer Hudson provided the night's most emotional moments onstage. The Oscar winner took her first Grammy award — for best R&B album — for her self-titled debut.

Hudson, 27, made no direct reference to the October killings of her mother, brother and nephew that kept her in seclusion until just this month. But while fighting back tears, she made it clear that her family was foremost on her mind.

"I first would like to thank God who has brought me through. I would like to thank my family in heaven and those who are with me today.

Hudson later performed "You Pulled Me Through," a dramatic song about overcoming deep despair, with the lyrics: "When I was drowning, when I was so confused, you, you pulled me through." As she sang the last note, she looked directly into the camera and dissolved into tears once again.

The Grammy telecast was filled with eye-popping and eyebrow-raising performances, from Radiohead's collaboration with a college marching band to a televised black-and-white throwback performance from Jay-Z, T.I., Lil Wayne, Kanye West and a (very) pregnant M.I.A. on "Swagga Like Us."

But not even these could patch up the gaping hole in the telecast caused by the absences of Brown and Rihanna. She was supposed to sing "Live Your Life/Disturbia" as the second performance of the night, he was later to sing "Forever."

And each was nominated in the pop collaboration with vocals category, Brown for "No Air" with "American Idol" champion Jordin Sparks; and Rihanna for "If I Never See Your Face Again" with Maroon 5. Brown was also nominated for male R&B vocal performance for "Take You Down."

Neither won a Grammy on Sunday, and the Recording Academy found able replacements for their performance slots in Justin Timberlake, Al Green, Boyz II Men and Keith Urban as they all sang Green's classic hit, "Let's Stay Together." No mention was made on the broadcast about the switch.

At about 3:30 Pacific time, just as the crowd was filing into the Staples Center, Los Angeles police released a report saying Brown was under investigation for an incident the night before. The report said he and a woman were driving in the ritzy neighborhood of Hancock Park when they began to argue around 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Brown stopped the car and both got out, whereupon the argument escalated, the report said. The woman, who had visible injuries when police arrived, identified Brown as her attacker, but he had left the scene, the report said.

Police said Brown walked into a station around 7 p.m. and was interviewed by detectives, and was released after posting bail before 9 p.m. A black SUV was later seen leaving the jail facility, but it wasn't immediately clear whether Brown was inside.

Around the same time, Lil Wayne won the first Grammys of his career for "Tha Carter III," which took the 26-year-old rap veteran to from rap to pop MVP. It wasn't entirely his fault for not sweeping all eight of his nominations: he was competing against himself in two categories in which he won.

Besides rap album, he won best rap solo performance for "A Milli," rap song for "Lollipop" and rap/sung collaboration for "Swagga Like Us."

Coldplay won three, included song of the year for "Viva La Vida."

"We've never had so many Grammys in our life," said lead singer Chris Martin, perhaps so excited he got confused (they had already won four over the years). "We feel so grateful to be here. I'm going to tear up."

British singer Adele was also teary, as she beat the Jonas Brothers, Lady Antebellum, Jazmine Sullivan and fellow Brit singer Duffy to nab best new artist. It was her second award of the evening.

"Thank you so much. I'm going to cry. I want to thank my manager, my mom, she's in London. And Duffy I love you. I think you're amazing. Jonas Brothers, I love you as well," she said, delivering that last bit with a devilish look, eliciting laughter.

It was Adele's second award; she earlier won for best female pop vocal.

___

AP reporters Jacob Adelman, Beth Harris, Derrik J. Lang, Anthony McCartney and Natalie Rotman contributed to this story.


_____________________________________________________________________________________

FULL LIST OF GRAMMY WINNERS 2009

Album of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand

Best Rap Album: Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: John Mayer, “Say”

Record of the Year: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Please Read This Letter”

Best New Artist: Adele

Best Rock Album: Coldplay, Viva la Vida

Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Rich Woman”

Song of the Year: Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”

Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group: Sugarland, “Stay”

Best R&B Album: Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Hudson

Industry Icon Award: Clive Davis

Producer of the Year, Non-Classical: Rick Rubin (Death Magnetic, Home Before Dark, Mercy, Seeing Things, Weezer)

Best Rock Song: Bruce Springsteen, “Girls in Their Summer Clothes”

Best Rock Instrumental Performance: “Peaches En Regalia,” Zappa Plays Zappa, Featuring Steve Vai & Napoleon Murphy Brock

Best Metal Performance: Metallica, “My Apocalypse”

Best Hard Rock Performance: The Mars Volta, “Wax Simulacra”

Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Kings of Leon, “Sex on Fire”

Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance: John Mayer, “Gravity”

Best Alternative Music Album: Radiohead, In Rainbows

Best Pop Vocal Album: Duffy, Rockferry

Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Coldplay, “Viva la Vida”

Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: Adele, “Chasing Pavements”

Best Pop Instrumental Album: Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Jingle All The Way

Best Pop Instrumental Performance: Eagles, “I Dreamed There Was No War”

Best Spoken Word Album (Includes Poetry, Audio Books): Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth (Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon and Blair Underwood)

Best Contemporary R&B Album: Mary J. Blige, Growing Pains

Best R&B Song: Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent” (Mikkel S. Eriksen, T.E. Hermansen and S. Smith, songwriters)

Best Urban/Alternative Performance: Chrisette Michele Featuring will.i.am, “Be OK”

Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance: Al Green Featuring Anthony Hamilton, “You’ve Got the Love I Need”

Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals: Al Green Featuring John Legend, “Stay With Me (by the Sea)”

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance: Alicia Keys; ” Superwoman”

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance: Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent”
Lil’ Wayne Frank Micelotta/Getty Images for MTV

Best Rap Song: Lil Wayne Featuring Static Major, “Lollipop” (D. Carter, S. Garrett, D. Harrison, J. Scheffer and R. Zamor, songwriters)

Best Rap/Sung Collaboration: Estelle Featuring Kanye West, “American Boy”

Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group: Jay-Z and T.I. Featuring Kanye West and Lil Wayne, “Swagga Like Us”

Best Rap Solo Performance: Lil Wayne, “A Milli”

Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album: Natalie Cole, Still Unforgettable

Best Country Album: George Strait, Troubadour

Best Country Song: Sugarland, “Stay” (Jennifer Nettles, songwriter)

Best Bluegrass Album: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 and 1947

Best Country Instrumental Performance: Brad Paisley, James Burton, Vince Gill, John Jorgenson, Albert Lee, Brent Mason, Redd Volkaert and Steve Wariner, “Cluster Pluck”

Best Country Collaboration With Vocals: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, “Killing the Blues”

Best Male Country Vocal Performance: Brad Paisley, “Letter to Me”
Carrie Underwood John Shearer/Getty Images

Best Female Country Vocal Performance: Carrie Underwood, “Last Name”

Best Reggae Album: Burning Spear, Jah Is Real

Best Hawaiian Music Album: Tia Carrere and Daniel Ho, Ikena

Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand

Best Traditional Folk Album: Pete Seeger, At 89

Best Traditional Blues Album: B.B. King, One Kind Favor

Best Contemporary Blues Album: Dr. John and the Lower 911, City That Care Forgot

Best Long Form Music Video: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, “Runnin’ Down a Dream”

Best Short Form Music Video: Weezer, “Pork and Beans”

Best Classical Album: Weill, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

Producer of the Year, Classical: David Frost

Best Classical Crossover Album: The King’s Singers, Simple Gifts

Best Classical Contemporary Composition: John Corigliano, composer, Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (JoAnn Falletta, conductor)

Best Classical Vocal Performance: John Corigliano, Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan

Best Small Ensemble Performance: Spotless Rose, Hymns to the Virgin Mary

Best Chamber Music Performance: Elliott Carter, Pacifica Quartet, String Quartets Nos. 1 and 5

Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (Without Orchestra): Gloria Cheng, Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky, and Lutoslawski

Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (With Orchestra): Hilary Hahn, Schoenberg, Sibelius: Violin Concertos (Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor)

Best Choral Performance: Sir Simon Rattle, “Symphony of Psalms”

Best Opera Recording: Weill, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

Best Orchestral Performance: Shostakovich, “Symphony No. 4,” Bernard Haitink, conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)

Best Engineered Album, Classical: Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago

Best Electronic/Dance Album: Daft Punk, Alive 2007

Best Dance Recording: Daft Punk, “Harder Better Faster Stronger”

Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album: Kirk Franklin, The Fight of My Life

Best Traditional Gospel Album: The Blind Boys of Alabama, Down in New Orleans

Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album: Gaither Vocal Band, Lovin’ Life

Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album: CeCe Winans, Thy Kingdom Come

Best Rock or Rap Gospel Album: TobyMac, Alive and Transported

Best Gospel Song: Kirk Franklin, “Help Me Believe”

Best Gospel Performance: Mary Mary, “Get Up”

Best Latin Jazz Album: Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Song for Chico
George Carlin Paul Schiraldi

Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album: The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard

Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group: Chick Corea and Gary Burton, The New Crystal Silence

Best Jazz Instrumental Solo: Terence Blanchard, soloist, “Be-Bop”

Best Jazz Vocal Album: Cassandra Wilson, Loverly

Best Contemporary Jazz Album: Randy Brecker, Randy in Brasil

Best New Age Album: Jack DeJohnette, Peace Time

Best Comedy Album: George Carlin, It’s Bad For Ya

Best Polka Album: Jimmy Sturr and His Orchestra, Let the Whole World Sing

Best Contemporary World Music Album: Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Adepoju and Giovanni Hidalgo, Global Drum Project

Best Traditional World Music Album: Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu

Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Best Native American Music Album: Come to Me Great Mystery—Native American Healing Songs

Best Norteño Album: Los Tigres del Norte, Raíces

Best Banda Album: Joan Sebástian, No Es de Madera

Best Tejano Album: Ruben Ramos and the Mexican Revolution, Viva la Revolucion

Best Regional Mexican Album: Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Amor, Dolor Y Lágrimas: Música Ranchera

Best Tropical Latin Album: José Feliciano, Señor Bachata

Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album: 45, Jaguares

Best Latin Pop Album: Juanes, La Vida…Es un Ratico

Best Musical Show Album: In the Heights

Best Musical Album for Children: They Might Be Giants, Here Come The 123s

Best Spoken Word Album for Children: Bill Harley, Yes to Running!

Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s): Natalie Cole, “Here’s That Rainy Day” (Nan Schwartz, arranger)

Best Instrumental Arrangement: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, “Define Dancing” (From Wall-E) (Thomas Newman, arranger)

Best Instrumental Composition: “The Adventures of Mutt” (From Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

Best Surround Sound Album: Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition; Night on Bald Mountain; Prelude to Khovanshchina

Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical: MGMT, “Electric Feel,” Justice Remix (Justice, remixers)

Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical: The Raconteurs (Joe Chiccarelli, Vance Powell and Jack White III), Consolers of the Lonely

Best Historical Album: Art of Field Recording, Volume I: Fifty Years of Traditional American Music (Documented by Art Rosenbaum)

Best Album Notes: Miles Davis, Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (Francis Davis, album notes writer)

Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package: In Rainbows

Best Recording Package: Metallica, Death Magnetic (Bruce Duckworth, Sarah Moffat and David Turner, art directors)

Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, “Down to Earth” (From Wall-E)

Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, The Dark Knight

Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media: Juno

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Text Message Might Be Behind Chris Brown And Rihanna Fight

Another woman asked Brown about 'hooking up later' in the text, according to TMZ.

by Jayson Rodriguez

A text message sent to Chris Brown from another woman may have ignited the explosive argument between the "Run It" singer and girlfriend Rihanna, according to TMZ.

A law-enforcement source who spoke with TMZ said the message asked Brown about "hooking up later." There were no further details, however, regarding the text or the identity of the person who sent the message. TMZ is also citing an alleged reference in the police report to an argument over a rapper, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Neither party has spoken publicly since reports surfaced about an alleged domestic-violence incident on Saturday. Brown turned himself in to police and was later released after posting $50,000 bail. The singer was charged with making criminal threats, and police are still investigating the matter before turning it over to the district attorney's office.

Rihanna's injuries aren't fully known yet. The Def Jam artist was taken to a hospital, and reports have varied regarding the extent of what happened to her — from large contusions on her face to a bloody nose. Her grandmother told a newspaper in the singer's native Barbados that Rihanna is "fine."

According to E!, though, Rihanna reportedly told police Brown choked her and left her unconscious following their altercation, where she allegedly threw the keys of Brown's rented car out the window, sending him into "a rage." Police then drove Rihanna to the hospital immediately rather than waiting for an ambulance after noticing her eye was black and swollen. E! is also reporting that Rihanna told police that Brown threatened to kill her.

Both artists backed out of their scheduled Grammy appearance on Sunday night and have canceled a number of upcoming appearances, including a concert overseas for Rihanna and a number of events Brown was set to appear at during NBA All-Star Weekend.

Brown's Doublemint gum endorsement deal has been suspended, and a number of his songs and past TV appearances have also been removed from airing on radio and TV.

This report is from MTV News.