Fathom Events presents surfing documentary 'A Deeper Shade of ...

Quite often, one yearns for the ocean, especially in such a landlocked place as Kentucky. The big blue ? which is, indeed, big and blue ? contains an irresistible allure. It is a sight to behold, a truly unimpeded sight of the horizon, stretching seemingly infinitely off into the distance, so far and clear that you can literally see the curve of the Earth. It is truly awe-inspiring. It is also a significant source of recreation, a tourist draw for those who wish to swim or fish or boat. Or surf.

Surfing has a culture all its own, and this is what filmmaker Jack McCoy explores with his documentary A Deeper Shade of Blue. The film explores the roots of the sport, as well as the evolution of surfing culture and surfboard technology. It also focuses significantly on the role of women in the history of surfing, including how Hawaiian princess Kaiulani resurrected the sport in the 1800s. The film is supplemented by an all-star musical soundtrack, including songs by Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Angus and Julia Stone, Jack Johnson, Iggy Pop, and Paul McCartney.

Tomorrow, Thursday, Fathom Events presents a special one-night screening of A Deeper Shade of Blue at various theaters nationwide, including two here in the Kentuckiana area. The broadcast will begin with a musical performance from Kaukahi and Jack Johnson from the red carpet premiere in Hawaii. Following the documentary, the presentation continues as director McCoy is joined by a bevy of famous surfers, including Kathy Kohner (?Gidget?), Tom Wegener, and the Marshall Brothers, among others, to further discuss the evolution of surfing and its culture. McCoy will also present the music video to Paul McCartney's ?Blue Sway,? which he wrote specifically for the film.

It all happens tomorrow at 7:30. This event can be seen at Stonybrook 20 IMAX, located at 2745 S. Hurstbourne Pkwy, or at New Albany Stadium 16, located at 300 Professional Court. Complete event information and advance ticket sales can be found at the Fathom Events website.

Image: event press release

Source: http://www.louisville.com/content/fathom-events-presents-surfing-documentary-deeper-shade-blue

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Woman returns $30,000 she found in donated clothes

arol Sutor holds an envelope that contained $30,000 cash (Photo courtesy of Phillybur??

A woman who took donated clothes from a relative returned the favor?with a vengeance: She gave back the $30,000 she found inside the hand-me-downs.

Carol Sutor of Bristol, Pa., was going through the clothes?which had belonged to her cousin?s daughter?s 85-year-old mother-in-law, who had recently died?when she came across a canvas bag on a hanger. In the bag was cash that had been stuffed into envelopes and wrapped in layers of plastic bags.

Sutor told the website Phillyburbs.com, ?I unwrapped the bag, and there was another bag in another bag in another bag, one of those deals, you know?? Inside of them she found stacks of hundred dollar bills.

Sutor, owner of Advantage Insurance in Levittown, told the website, "Things are tight. You struggle in your business, like everybody?s struggling. But when you struggle you think, oh, wow, if only I had money, my troubles would be solved. And so all this money shows up, but it?s the wrong way for it to come. It wasn?t mine and I knew it.?

When Sutor told her cousin, Marlene Lattanzi, who lives in nearby Medford, N.J., of the cash find, she came over to help count the bills. The cousins think the money had been stashed someplace safe during Superstorm Sandy and never put back in the bank after flooding ruined the mother-in-law?s house and car.

Lattanzi left with the money and called her son-in-law to tell him the good news. Ten minutes later, Lattanzi returned to give Sutor $1,000 and her son-in-law?s thanks for returning the funds.

Sutor said she didn?t spend much time wrestling with what to do. ?I had to give it back,? she told the news website. ?I believe in karma; whatever I do will come back to me, good or bad.?

One veteran of returned treasure could tell Sutor it's worth it. Homeless man Billy Ray Harris, who gave back a diamond ring put accidentally in his change cup, now has a home, a part-time job and a fund of over $186,000 donated to him?and was reunited with his family on TV.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/woman-returns-30-000-she-finds-donated-clothes-145000837.html

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Francis turns on charm in first meeting with press

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis offered intimate insights Saturday into the moments after his election, telling journalists that he was immediately inspired to take the name of St. Francis of Assisi because of his work for peace and the poor ? and that he himself would like to see "a poor church and a church for the poor."

"Let me tell you a story," Francis said in a break from his prepared text during a special gathering for thousands of journalists, media workers and guests in the Vatican's auditorium.

Francis then described how he was comforted by his friend, Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes, as it appeared the voting was going his way and it seemed "a bit dangerous" that he would reach the two-thirds necessary to be elected.

When the threshold was reached, applause erupted in the frescoed Sistine Chapel.

"He (Hummes) hugged me. He kissed me. He said don't forget about the poor," Francis recalled. "And that's how in my heart came the name Francis of Assisi," who devoted his life to the poor, missionary outreach and caring for God's creation.

He said some have wondered whether his name was a reference to other Francis figures, including St. Frances de Sales or even the co-founder of the pope's Jesuit order, Francis Xavier.

But he said he was inspired immediately after the election when he thought about wars.

St. Francis of Assisi, the pope said, was "the man of the poor. The man of peace. The man who loved and cared for creation ? and in this moment we don't have such a great relationship with creation. The man who gives us this spirit of peace, the poor man."

"Oh how I would like a poor church and a church for the poor," Francis said, sighing.

He then joked that some other cardinals suggested other names: Hadrian VI, after a great church reformer ? a reference to the need for the pope to clean up the Vatican's messy bureaucracy. Someone else suggested Clement XV, to get even with Clement XIV, who suppressed the Jesuit order in 1773.

The gathering in the Vatican begins a busy week for the pontiff that includes his installation Mass on Tuesday.

Among the talks, the Vatican said Saturday, will be a session with the president of Francis' homeland Argentina on Monday. The pope has sharply criticized Christina Fernandez over her support for liberal measures such as gay marriage and free contraceptives.

But the most closely watched appointment will be Francis' journey next Saturday to the hills south of Rome at the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo for lunch with Benedict XVI, a historic encounter that brings together the new pope and the first pope to resign in six centuries, which set in motion the stunning papal transition.

The Saturday meeting between the two will be private, but every comment and gesture on the sidelines will be scrutinized for hints of how the unprecedented relationship will take shape between the emeritus pontiff and his successor.

Benedict has promised to remain outside church affairs and dedicate himself to prayer and meditation. Pope Francis, however, has shown no reluctance to invoke Benedict's legacy and memory, in both an acknowledgment of the unusual dimensions of his papacy and also a message that he is comfortable with the situation and is now fully in charge.

World leaders and senior international envoys, including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, are expected on Tuesday for the formal installation of Pope Francis, the first Latin American pope. It offers the new pope his first opportunities to flex his diplomatic skills as head of the Vatican City State.

But the most potentially sensitive talks could come with Fernandez after years of open tensions over the then-archbishop's strong opposition to initiatives that led Argentina to become Latin American country to legalize gay marriage. He also opposed ? but failed to stop ? Fernandez from promoting free contraception and artificial insemination.

In one of his first acts as pope, Francis phoned the Vatican ambassador in Buenos Aires and urged him to put out the word that he didn't want ordinary Argentines flocking to Rome for the Mass, urging them to use the money instead for charity.

Also Saturday, the pope confirmed all the current Vatican officials in their jobs "for the time being," the Vatican said, noting that he will take time before deciding to make changes in the church administration, which has been tarnished by leaked documents that raise questions about financial transparency and possible attempts to protect scandal-tainted clerics.

During his audience with journalists Saturday, Francis poured on the charm, thanking journalists for their work covering the election ? "and you have worked, eh?" he said chuckling. He urged them to view the church not as a political entity but as a "dramatically spiritual" human institution and learn its true nature "with its virtues and its sins."

"The church exists to communicate this: truth, goodness and beauty personified. We are all called not to communicate ourselves, but this essential trio."

In a recognition that not all journalists in the room were Christian or even believers, he offered a blessing without the traditional Catholic formula or gesture, saying he would bless each one in silence "respecting your conscience, but knowing that each one of you is a child of God. May God bless you."

Afterwards, Francis met with some of the senior Vatican communications officials as well as a handful of journalists, including one who offered him a mate gourd, the small cup with straw that holds the traditional Argentine herbal tea that Francis loves. Those who knew him embraced him warmly.

"Simple, simpatico and very direct," is how Iacopo Scaramuzzi, the Vatican correspondent for the Italian news agency TMNews, described his brief greeting with the pope.

Alessandro Forlani, a visually impaired journalist for Italian RAI radio, approached the pope with his seeing eye dog Asia.

"He has a special relationship with creation in the spirit of St. Francis," Forlani said afterward. "I asked for a blessing for my wife and daughter at home. He added 'a blessing for the dog too' and bent down to bless it."

___

Daniela Petroff contributed.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/francis-turns-charm-first-meeting-press-111911747.html

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Chad says kills Algeria hostage mastermind in Mali

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chadian soldiers in Mali have killed Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the al Qaeda commander who masterminded a bloody hostage-taking at an Algerian gas plant in January, Chad's military said on Saturday.

The death of one of the world's most wanted jihadists would be a major blow to al Qaeda in the region and to Islamist rebels already forced to flee towns they had seized in northern Mali by an offensive by French and African troops.

"On Saturday, March 2, at noon, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base (...) The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar," Chad's armed forces said in a statement read on national television.

On Friday, Chad's President Idriss Deby said his soldiers had killed another al Qaeda commander, Adelhamid Abou Zeid, among 40 militants who died in an operation in the same area as Saturday's assault - Mali's Adrar des Ifoghas mountains near the Algerian border.

France - which has used jet strikes against the militants' mountain hideouts - has declined to confirm the killing of either Abou Zeid or Belmokhtar.

Analysts said the death of two of al Qaeda's most feared commanders in the Sahara desert would mark a significant blow to Mali's Islamist rebellion.

"Both men have extensive knowledge of northern Mali and parts of the broader Sahel and deep social and other connections in northern Mali, and the death of both in such a short amount of time will likely have an impact on militant operations," said Andrew Lebovich, a Dakar-based analyst who follows al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

Anne Giudicelli, managing director of security consultancy Terrorisc, said the al Qaeda commanders' deaths - if confirmed - would temporarily disrupt the Islamist rebel network but would also raise concern over the fate of seven French hostages believed to be held by Islamists in northern Mali.

Chad is one of several African nations that have contributed forces to a French-led military intervention in Mali aimed at ridding its vast northern desert of Islamist rebels who seized the area nearly a year ago following a coup in the capital.

Western and African countries are worried that al Qaeda could use the zone to launch international attacks and strengthen ties with African Islamist groups like al Shabaab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria.

'MARLBORO MAN'

Belmokhtar, 40, who lost an eye while fighting in Afghanistan in the 1990s, claimed responsibility for the seizure of dozens of foreign hostages at the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in January in which more than 60 people were killed.

That attack put Algeria back on the map of global jihad, 20 years after its civil war, a bloody Islamist struggle for power. It also burnished Belmokhtar's jihadi credentials by showing that al Qaeda remained a potent threat to Western interests despite U.S. forces killing Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.

Before In Amenas, some intelligence experts had assumed Algerian-born Belmokhtar had drifted away from jihad in favor of kidnapping and smuggling weapons and cigarettes in the Sahara where he earned the nickname "Marlboro Man".

In a rare interview with a Mauritanian news service in late 2011, Belmokhtar paid homage to bin Laden and his successor, Ayman al-Zawahri. He cited al Qaeda's traditional global preoccupations, including Iraq, Afghanistan and the fate of the Palestinians, and stressed the need to "attack Western and Jewish economic and military interests".

He shared command of field operations for AQIM - al Qaeda's north African franchise - with Abou Zeid, though there was talk the two did not get along and were competing for power.

A former smuggler turned jihadi, Algerian-born Abou Zeid imposed a violent form of sharia, Islamic law, in the ancient desert town of Timbuktu, including amputations and the destruction of ancient Sufi shrines.

Robert Fowler, a former Canadian diplomat held hostage by Belmokhtar in 2008-9, told Reuters: "While I cannot consider reports of the death of both Abou Zeid and Mokhtar Belmokhtar as anything but good news ... I must temper my enthusiasm by the fact that this is by no means the first time Belmokhtar's death has been reported."

President Francois Hollande said on Friday that the assault to retake Mali's vast desert north from AQIM and other Islamist rebels that began on January 11 was in its final stage and so could not confirm Abou Zeid's death.

A U.S. official and a Western diplomat, however, said the reports about Abou Zeid's death appeared to be credible.

U.S. Representative Ed Royce, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the killing of Belmokhtar "would be a hard blow to the collection of jihadists operating across the region that are targeting American diplomats and energy workers."

Washington has said it believes Islamists operating in Mali were involved in the killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi in September.

After its success in dislodging al Qaeda fighters from northern Mali's towns, France and its African allies have faced a mounting wave of suicide bombings and guerrilla-style raids by Islamists in northern Malian towns.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that a U.N. peacekeeping force to replace French troops in Mali should be discussed as soon as possible.

Chad was among the quickest to respond to Mali's appeals for help alongside the French, rushing in hundreds of troops experienced in desert warfare, led by President Deby's son, General Mahamat Deby.

President Deby may be hoping to polish his regional and international credentials by assisting in this war, while bolstering his own position in power in Chad which has been threatened in the past by eastern neighbor Sudan.

(Additional reporting by John Irish and David Lewis in Dakar, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chad-soldiers-mali-kill-al-qaeda-commander-belmokhtar-200331623.html

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