We've been following the progress of this upcoming stage musical (aimed for Broadway) since it was first revealed about 2 years ago. Tony Award winner Bill T. Jones (Fela!) has been developing an adaptation of Super Fly for the stage as a musical. Over the last couple of years, there've been workshops, cast announcements for those workshops, and more; as the project inches closer and closer to being fully realized. Broadway World announced this afternoon that Super Fly, The Musical will finally be coming to Broadway in late 2013, citing Tommy Mottola of The Mottola Group (the producers) as the source. No casting...

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A Russian judge who decided to spend his vacation moonlighting as a war correspondent in Syria survived being shot in the face and arm this week in a Damascus suburb.

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Four years before a 15-year-old Chicago honors student was shot and killed in a park, she appeared in an antigang video, urging fellow students to avoid violence.

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Making its world premiere at this year's SXSW film festival is the Civil War drama The Retrieval, which we hadn't heard of before today (adding it to our list of "slavery/Civil War" films list - see Tambay's post from earlier this month HERE). Helmed by Chris Eska, nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards (and winner of the Cassavetes Award) for his feature film August Evening, The Retrieval stars newcomers (mostly) Ashton Sanders, Tishuan Scott, Keston John, Bill Oberst, Jr., Christine Horn, and others. Jason Wehling and Jacob Esquivel produce. All we have for a synopsis is: "On the outskirts of the Civil War, a boy is sent north by a bounty...

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One of the main themes senators on the Senate Armed Services Committee committed themselves to today during Chuck Hagel's confirmation hearing to be the next Secretary of Defense was -- not wondering whether Hagel fully supports a diplomatic approach to Iran's nuclear program, as most Americans do -- but rather, whether the former Republican senator [...]

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A directorial feature debut by Jonathan Singer-Vine, Licks will premiere at this year's SXSW Film Festival. A script penned by Singer-Vine and Justin "Hongry" Robinson, Licks revolves around a man named D and his struggles after returning to his Oakland neighborhood after a two-year stint in prison for arm robbery. The film stars Stanley "Doe" Hunt as Lil D, Koran Jenkins, John Stallings and Devon Libran. Director Singer-Vine and Niko Philipides serve as producers. Official syposis: LICKS follows the story of a young man, D, as he returns to his Oakland neighborhood after two years served in prison for a robbery gone wrong. In the days after his...

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Wow, what an awfully long day! What a roller coaster of emotion!

Kevin Baron has the full rundown. There were spats between friends -- though it seems like if John McCain and Chuck Hagel are still on speaking terms, they'll be frenemies from here on out. There were flubs -- a frequently flustered Hagel fumbling on Iran (specifically the issue of containment), senators with gotcha questions (Sen. Lindsey Graham at one point even interrupted to point out to Hagel, "I gotcha!"), and pandering all around. All in all it was the most dramatic piece of Washington theater since...well, inauguration was only two weeks ago.

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A few hours west of Addis Ababa, through increasingly fertile country, is Mount Wenchi with its striking crater lake. Stuart Butler for The National Travel in Ethiopia: Addis Ababa and the Omo Valley By Stuart Butler Feb 1, 2013 A trickle of...

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Wow, so it is January 31st and I haven't blogged in 2013 yet! I made a promise to myself to write at least 233 blog posts this year. I was on my home from work et al thinking a whole month was going by without a single blog post! So I had to write something. I could have picked out one of my drafts and published it or used one of the blog ideas I had. But because I always have eventful days, I could make a blog post out of the last 3 hours. So here goes :-)

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Following in the footsteps of the French military advance in Mali.

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Wow, so it is January 31st and I haven't blogged in 2013 yet! I made a promise to myself to write at least 233 blog posts this year. I was on my home from work et al thinking a whole month was going by without a single blog post! So I had to write something. I could have picked out one of my drafts and published it or used one of the blog ideas I had. But because I always have eventful days, I could make a blog post out of the last 3 hours. So here goes :-)

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Everyone on Egypt's streets and social networks is talking about them but no one really knows who they are. Calling themselves "Black Bloc," these new masked opponents of the Morsi regime are set to defend street protesters--by force if necessary.

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Sinai is being ravished by flooding, after heavy rains in the region. Very little information is available on online media, amid total silence on mainstream media. Netizens report that up to 1,400 families could be caught up in the flooding, without electricity and access to food.

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This blogpost was co-authored by Raise Hope for Congo Assistant Campaign Manager Alex Hellmuth and STAND National Student Director Mickey Jackson.

Yesterday, hundreds of students across the country, and around the world, took time out of their day to call the White House. The students raised their voices to ask for greater U.S. involvement in Congo's peace process, and specifically, for the appointment of a presidential envoy to coordinate the U.S. government's response to the conflict in eastern Congo. Since April, the M23 rebellion has wreaked havoc on the eastern Congolese population and displaced over 600,000 people. Recent reports note there is a rise in sexual violence in North Kivu due to the heavy movements and presence of militias.

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Written by Amira Al Hussaini · comments (0) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

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The heavy metal scene in Botswana (landlocked and bordered by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe) has been covered before, most notably by South African photographer Frank Marshall.  But there's little film of the scene outside of music videos (like this, for example). Now Dutch TV channel VPRO made this video report (for its weekly program Metropolis) on [...]

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When the M23 rebel group seized the city of Goma in eastern Congo last November, a coalition of activists sprang into action. Activists began calling for a U.S. presidential envoy to work with leaders and stakeholders from the region to address the urgent security needs.

At the center of this outpouring were the voices of hundreds of Congolese women leaders demanding attention to the impact on civilians of the rapidly advancing rebel movement. Fearing for their safety and the safety of their families, the leaders launched a petition on Change.org, supported by partners World Pulse and the Enough Project.

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Environmental degradation associated with the petroleum industry in the Niger Delta impacts directly on the livelihoods of indigenous farmers and...

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Rival representatives from across Egypt's political spectrum held a rare meeting on Thursday to denounce violence following a week of rioting that left up to 60 people dead nationwide. The meeting was called by Egypt's leading Muslim scholar.

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Steinway Street in Astoria, Queens is home to the largest Moroccan population in New York City and Casa Lounge, a Moroccan-owned hookah spot, has been the undisputed destination in the neighborhood to catch Morocco's Africa Cup of Nations matches this year. Needing a win to progress out of a surprisingly competitive Group A, the Atlas [...]

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