By now I'm sure we're all familiar with the story, even if it's just the broad details of it - young woman dies in her apartment and her body isn't discovered for a good 3 years, as it lay there putrefying - which actually sounds like it could be a pitch for a fictional narrative, but actually is very real. Carol Morley's heartfelt docu-drama Dreams Of A Life begins with a series of questions (How could this have happened to any human being? How did she die? How is it that for 3 straight years absolutely no one learned of her death), and ends in a mystery, with some of those initial questions still left unresolved. But the film's...

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Emma Bunton's chocolate Labrador, Phoebe went missing this week and was found a few days later dead by a railway track. The dog had run off as they are inclined to do in pursuit of a scent or an adventure and lost her way

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Small grants: huge impact. That was the recurring theme of an inspiring event Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer hosted earlier this week at the Department of State. As part of the WEAmericas initiative to support economic empowerment for women-owned businesses in the Western Hemisphere, we announced 25 small grants for organizations in 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries, as well as two regional projects. The Walmart Foundation and the Secretary of State's International Fund for Women and Girls sponsored the grants.

We... more »

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An update on VH1's in-development biopic on pop/hip hop/R&B group TLC, which the network announced, last November, would begin shooting in early 2013, with casting underway at the time. From a VH1 press release, screenwriter Kate Lanier (What's Love Got To Do With It, Set it Off, Beauty Shop) penned the screenplay for the film, which is currently untitled (Untitled TLC Biopic), and it said that Chilli and T-Boz had signed on as consultants and executive producers of the movie, along with Bill Diggins and Maggie Malina, as well as Alexander Motlagh for Pop Films. Thanks to a tip from reader Cordell, in the red carpet...

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Danish auteur, enfant terrible Lars von Trier is at it again with what will surely be another provocative piece of cinema when his next film, Nymphomaniac, which is expected to make its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, debuts. The highly-anticipated film, von Trier's follow-up to 2011's melancholic Melancholia, stars Charlotte Gainsbourg (who's become a von Trier muse it seems, starring in his last 3 films), Stellan Skarsgard, Shia LaBeouf, Uma Thurman and Jamie Bell. Here's the official synopsis for Nymphomaniac: The film is a wild and poetic story of a woman's erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main...

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Ethiopia: Parking attendant sentenced in scam that netted almost $1.4 million in fees By Mary Pat Flaherty, Published: February 8 The pair of parking lot attendants at the Smithsonian Institution's air and space center in Chantilly were very patien...

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Ethiopia charms Indian leather manufacturers Source: Times of India Availability of raw materials and abundant labour has turned Ethiopia into an attractive investment destination for Indian leather manufacturers." Ethiopia is looking for investmen...

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Ethiopian journalist Temesghen Desalegn Ethiopia: Charges Renewed Against Ethiopian Journalist Temesghen CPJ PRESS RELEASE Nairobi -- The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the revival of criminal charges against Ethiopian journalist Te...

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Ethiopia: Regulatory Body Censors Opposition Publication Again Source: Reporters sans Frontières (Paris) Reporters Without Borders strongly condemns a decision by the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority (EBA), which regulates all the media, to withdra...

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Owen Paterson is leaving ultimate responsibility to retailers. Not a good idea

If ever there was a scandal designed for the self-satisfied chatter of a British dinner party, it is that involving the discovery of horsemeat in cheap, ready-to-eat dishes labelled as beef. The arguments will be familiar: anybody buying cheap food gets what they deserve; too few people now know how to cook; we should all abandon the supermarkets in favour of our local independent shops.

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