Daily Archives: July 23, 2017

Joan, the script & the wardrobe – the Emmy Award-winning costume designer who dressed David Bowie – Independent.ie

Posted: July 23, 2017 at 1:34 am

Joan, the script & the wardrobe - the Emmy Award-winning costume designer who dressed David Bowie

Independent.ie

In 1976, in Dublin's Focus Theatre, Joan Bergin abandoned her dream of acting. She was playing Natalya, the lady of the manor, in Turgenev's A Month in the Country. Her co-stars included Gabriel Byrne and Olwen Four and one evening, while watching Four on stage, Bergin came to a sudden and profound decision.

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In 1976, in Dublin's Focus Theatre, Joan Bergin abandoned her dream of acting. She was playing Natalya, the lady of the manor, in Turgenev's A Month in the Country. Her co-stars included Gabriel Byrne and Olwen Four and one evening, while watching Four on stage, Bergin came to a sudden and profound decision.

"I haven't a great speaking voice," she says, "and the big, big thing for me was I'm a butterfly for everything. I was interested in a hundred different things. I realised, to be an actor, you have to be very single-minded."

If Focus Theatre was where she let go of one ambition, it was also where she cultivated another. Deirdre O'Connell, who founded Focus in 1967, had trained in the immersive Stanislavski system in New York and was "such a purist", Bergin says.

"To her it was all about the acting and performance. I was really quite taken aback if people were wearing their mother's cardigans. So one rash day, I said, 'Why don't I do the costumes?'"

"Doing" the costumes proved to be Bergin's calling. With nice circularity, during the course of her award-winning career, she has dressed both Gabriel Byrne and Olwen Four, as well as scores of Hollywood stars.

When Meryl Streep saw the clothes she'd be wearing in the film Dancing at Lughnasa, she gave Bergin a hug. On the set of My Left Foot, Daniel Day-Lewis, in character as Christy Brown, insisted Bergin feed him his lunch. While shooting The Prestige in LA, David Bowie alighted from a carriage, grabbed the lapels of her coat and told her he loved his costumes.

Bergin has a wealth of such stories and, in a caf in the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, is happy to share them, despite a summer cold. Dressed in black with her trademark cowboy hat, she has a style of her own - a distinctive blend of masculine and feminine. Small details stand out: the shoulder ruffles on her blouse, the Harley-Davidson badge on the front of the hat, her lilac nail polish, long silver necklace and flat hoop earrings.

On the wall opposite us hang entries from the Sightsavers Junior Painter Awards. Along with Laureate na ng PJ Lynch and Director of Arts & Disability Ireland Pdraig Naughton, she was one of this year's judges. Despite being "up to her tonsils", she agreed to adjudicate because she had seen a documentary about Sightsavers' doctors in India stopping off at train stations and performing cataract surgery within 20 minutes.

Bergin was the "non-professional" on the panel and loved being involved with the competition. The theme was Framing the Future. The judges had no difficulty agreeing on the winner: eight-year-old Dylan Williams from Co Clare, whose painting In the Future I Will Live in a Music City is an extraordinary, exuberant feat of visual intelligence that turns musical instruments into buildings.

"I'd forgotten the gift of the imagination in children," Bergin says. When she first saw the entries, she was "blown out of the water".

She doesn't have children but is very involved in the lives of her grandnieces and grandnephews, just as she was with her nieces and nephews when they were growing up. She lives in Ranelagh, Dublin, with her partner, the journalist and writer Kevin O'Connor, and is part of a big, "madly supportive" family that is extremely important to her.

Though she might not have realised it until later, the seeds of her career were planted in her childhood home. She had a "great childhood", she says. The eldest of five - four girls and a boy - she grew up in Cabra.

"Cabra then was a lot of people taken from all over and placed in what was to be the new utopia of houses and schools. There was a tremendous mix of people."

Her mother was from West Cork. Her father, from Dublin, got TB and had to retire from CIE. A socialist, he was "very creative" and, significantly, used to hand-paint evening gowns to earn money.

"It was a house that was always full of books," she says. "My father really thought any one of his daughters could be President of Ireland. And you really resent that as a teenager. All I ever wanted to be was an actress."

Though they valued books and the arts, Bergin's parents were "scared stiff" of their eldest daughter's acting ambitions, which to them "would have seemed like a huge indulgence". But Bergin's creativity was also fostered in school. At the Dominican Convent in Cabra, she had a young teacher called Sister Mary Jude who would go on to work in the Louisiana State Penitentiary - the prison featured in the film Dead Man Walking.

During the week the pupils spoke Irish. On Saturdays they studied English literature and music. Sister Mary Jude inspired them "by stealth", says Bergin. "Ever since, I have a lot of time for the nuns."

It was a very political household, and she still keeps a close eye on politics and current affairs. O'Connor is a former radio producer and Bergin listens to a lot of radio, which she thinks "keeps you very grounded and focused". She also describes herself as "like a cobbler's son". In her downtime, one of her favourite things to do is go to the theatre. "I'm as interested as ever," she says.

She may have decided that the stage wasn't for her, but her acting background has undoubtedly given her work an edge, deepening her understanding of scripts and characters. Even when dressing private clients such as Sabina Higgins - another acting graduate of Focus Theatre - or architect Peter Marino, known for his tattooed biker look, she can tap into the potential symbolism of an outfit.

"I think you get to understand the fields. I often say to people, at this stage of my career, where I'm working beyond my allotted span, that what you do is you harness everything you have learned and then you deploy it to whatever the situation is."

Bergin stayed with Focus Theatre as in-house designer through the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s, developing her interest in costume as she trawled through Dublin's vintage shops.

Noel Pearson was an early mentor. She designed several of his productions and began collaborating with Jim Sheridan, a professional relationship which led to her working on My Left Foot, The Field and In the Name of the Father, and which continues today.

Self-taught, Bergin learned on the job, her achievements - along with those of fellow designer Consolata Boyle - paving the way for younger Irish costume designers. But though the 1990s and early 2000s were extremely successful for her, including as they did several Jim Sheridan films, Brian Friel's Translations and Riverdance on Broadway, she was always "a little wary" of men's clothes. It took her until the film Veronica Guerin in 2003 to "really enter into the psychology of how men define themselves through their clothes".

"It clicked on Veronica Guerin, where I decided that even though they were Dublin crims, lots of them had very interesting backgrounds," she says. "I decided for an international audience that I should show their aspirations, so I dressed them in Louis Copeland," she says.

Over the past four decades, Bergin has worked on numerous high-profile theatre productions. Given that theatre is her first love, it would be understandable if her preference was to design for the stage, but it's film rather than theatre - or television - that seems to excite her most.

"It's very fashionable now to say television is where it's at," she says, "and, yes, television has changed beyond recognition - some of the best stories are there - but maybe because I'm old-school and, having started with Jim Sheridan on independent feature films, nothing beats the buzz of film."

Nevertheless, it's her work for television that has brought her the most acclaim. From 2006 to 2009, Bergin was costume designer on The Tudors, the lavish Showtime drama starting Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII.

Filmed in Ardmore Studios, The Tudors was a massive opportunity and challenge, for which Bergin won three Emmys, beating Mad Men twice.

With characteristic thoroughness, she became something of a Tudor historian, immersing herself in the era so she could reinterpret its clothes for a contemporary audience. Over the course of four series, she and her team made thousands of costumes.

"We made everything, right down to the shoes people wore. I don't want to claim too much for it but it did start a big interest in embroidery and jewellery making."

She's very conscious of crediting her colleagues on The Tudors, as well as other projects.

"I know it's a clich but the costume designer is as good as the crew, as the workshop and the assistants working with them," she says. "You're a fiefdom within the piece of work you're on - you have to keep it like that."

Winning the Emmys was "wonderful"; she keeps them on her kitchen mantelpiece but The Tudors began an intense, work-heavy decade of episodic television from which she eventually needed to emerge.

"I came back from LA [on a Friday] and started on The Tudors, somewhat behind, on the Monday and there was no let-up. I remember Kevin asking me, 'Which of us is bringing the cat to the vet?' And for one awful moment, I thought, 'Do we have a cat?' It was so, so demanding."

After The Tudors came Camelot, an Irish-Canadian co-production starring Joseph Fiennes, and four seasons of Vikings, a History Channel series filmed at Ashford Studios in Co Wicklow, which she left in 2016. Then she worked on The Dawn, a pilot for Amazon about a group of Neanderthals. It was the first time she'd been involved with a project that didn't get picked up.

Bergin wasn't sure what direction her career would take beyond the world of television.

"I thought I'd perhaps left it too late."

She took some months off supposedly to extend her kitchen - the drawings are currently yellowing - and also to look at what she wanted to do.

"The work is rolling in. My agent says I'm like someone who has been hidden under a stone." She quotes Wordsworth: "A violet by a mossy stone. Half-hidden from the eye."

Earlier this year, she spent four months in Prague and Boston as costume designer for The Catcher Was a Spy, a thriller set during World War II. The project was "terrific" and she immersed herself in the 1930s and 1940s.

"But I was delighted to get home," she says. "I fell in love with Dublin. I was beaming at the place when I came back. I would hesitate now to go away again unless it was Scorsese."

At this point, she can pick and choose projects. The previous night, she turned down a "huge" movie in Argentina. "They wanted me there two weeks from today."

Pragmatic about her place in the pecking order of costume designers, she's very lucky, she says, to be in a pool of half a dozen. "Not the top six, the Sandy Powells, the Colleen Atwoods - the great American designers who would be first choice." But a group of "good creative people that directors have worked with".

From her point of view, the big thing is the script. "It's of little satisfaction at the end of the day, however nice it is, when someone says, 'Why are the costumes so great but the movie is awful?'"

She's about to start work on Jim Sheridan's film H-Block - starring Cillian Murphy, Pierce Brosnan and Jamie Dornan - and is very much looking forward to the shoot.

"Jim's back at what he's terrific at," she says, "that ambiguity of a moral dilemma."

Bergin is still ambitious, still reaching for the best from herself, but these days she enjoys the simpler things too: hanging clothes out on the line, for example. She smiles at herself. "Kevin will have a good laugh and say, 'When do you hang clothes out on the line?'"

Home is where she wants to be, but to really get your bearings, "you need to get out there", to travel, she says. "It's a great way of examining where you're at."

One of her favourite places is New York, less so LA, where she spent five months in 2006. At 7pm when shooting finished, "everyone got in their car and went home. Same on a Friday."

"I've made some great friends in the business, of course I have, but you learn to be quite savvy about your time."

Alan Rickman, who died in 2016, was one such friend. He was a "most generous, wonderful man. And as interested in my career as he was in his, and would complain if I didn't go after a particular job."

You need people to believe in you, she says, but it doesn't mean you've to turn into a "pain in the whatever". Sometimes she comes upon young people and "reels a bit at their self-belief... it's tilted a bit the other way. On the whole, I think the world is full of fairly decent people."

Amid the unhealthy egos and excesses of the industries she works in, she seems to have maintained perspective. She talks about having "your own moral compass".

"It's terribly important to make a decision about what you want from life and how you want to treat people, apart from how you want to be treated."

Scorsese may call yet but, even if he doesn't, it's clear that Joan Bergin will continue "doing" the costumes for as long as she can - as happy to look forwards as backwards.

"I used to be shy of saying I've had a remarkable life, not least because I probably thought it made me sound too old," she says, "but I have been incredibly lucky."

The 15 finalist paintings from the Sightsavers Junior Painter Awards will be displayed in Powerscourt Townhouse Centre until August 5

COSTUME DRAMA

Joan Bergin's five favourites from her repertoire

Daniel Day-Lewis's Afghan coat in In the Name of the Father

When Gerry Conlon, played by Daniel Day- Lewis, "finds" some money, he buys himself a pair of hand-painted shoes and a long, white Afghan coat. Bergin brought the skin in from Afghanistan and had it made up in Dublin.

The Spanish dancer's dress in Riverdance

Bergin did not design the costumes for the original Riverdance but took over when the show went to Broadway in 2000. As part of her research, she studied Jim Fitzpatrick's work and looked at how the Celts used to make dye from berries. The Spanish dancer's dress for the production was "quite, quite something", she says.

Jane Seymour's wedding dress in The Tudors

Jane Seymour's wedding to Henry VIII took place during season three of The Tudors. For the occasion, Bergin dressed Annabelle Wallis (who played Seymour) in an extravagant gown with quilting and intricate embroidery - including on the bodice and sleeves. A tiara held down the veil.

All of Scarlett Johansson's clothes in The Prestige

Johansson plays the assistant and lover of magician Robert Angier in the neo-Victorian mystery thriller set in the early 1900s. David Bowie makes a cameo appearance as real- life inventor Nikola Tesla.

Lagertha's clothes in Vikings

Played by Katheryn Winnick, the legendary figure of Lagertha fights alongside the men in shield walls. "The embroidery and Irish tweeds" on her costumes "were a nice fusion between Celtic and Viking", says Bergin.

Photos: Steve Humphreys

Weekend Magazine

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Oceania Travel guide at Wikivoyage

Posted: at 1:32 am

Oceania is sometimes described as a continent; however, it is a vast region where the waters of the Pacific Ocean rather than land borders separate nations.

The countless small islands are known for their white sand with swaying palm trees, astounding coral reefs, and rugged volcanoes. Oceania also contains the deserts of Australia and the highland rainforests of Papua New Guinea, as well as indigenous tribal communities and modern world cities side by side.

Australia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea are by far the largest countries in this pseudo-continent, and the former two are the most visited by travellers. Oceania includes the vast island nation groupings of Polynesia (extending from New Zealand to the north and east), Melanesia (to the west, and south of the equator), and Micronesia (almost wholly north of the equator).

As its name indicates, this region is defined by large expanses of ocean dotted with many small and large island nations. The climates range from tropical to desert to near arctic.

Australasia is a more narrow region, consisting of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and nearby islands.

Colonialism by European powers has had a pervasive influence on the social landscape and culture of most of the region. British colonialism has made cricket part of the Australian and New Zealand summer, and has also resulted in either one or both forms of rugby becoming an integral part of the cultures of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa. The bringing of British indentured labour from India to harvest sugar cane in Fiji has led to long-term political unrest, but also means that Nadi has some of the best kofta balls to be had outside of Mumbai. Francophone New Caledonia sees the modern capital and tourist hub Noumea surrounded by Melanesian villages rarely visited.

See the country articles for detailed information on how to Get in.

The major countries of Australia and New Zealand offer connections from all continents, although there are few direct flights from South America. The main air hubs in the region are at Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Brisbane and Perth. There are other gateways offering opportunities to get in and interesting itineraries. Air France connects New Caledonia direct with Tokyo and Paris and also flies to Tahiti. Onward connections to Sydney and Auckland are possible. Fiji Airways connects Nadi with Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore with connections through to Sydney, Auckland and Tahiti. Tahiti is connected to Los Angeles, and you can fly to the Cook Islands direct from there. Air New Zealand provides a service to Tonga and Samoa from Los Angeles and Auckland. The Los Angeles service is subsidized by the New Zealand government as a form of aid to the two countries. Manila, Guam and Honolulu offer a gateway to many countries of Micronesia, mainly on United Airlines. Air Niugini also operates flights from Port Moresby to several cities in East Asia and Southeast Asia

The smallest islands with less tourism present additional challenges to get to. Many are entirely deserted, and some have restrictions on access.

Several South Pacific cruises traverse the vast ocean, but a few berths are available for the patient traveller on bulk freighters or container ships plying the trade routes. The distances are enormous, as the Pacific Ocean is larger than the entire land mass of the planet.

Without a yacht, and a lot of time, the only way for travellers to get around between the main destinations of Oceania is by plane. Auckland, Brisbane, Los Angeles and Sydney have good connectivity to the region. It is usually possible to fly from the west coast of the United States through to Sydney or Auckland via Hawaii, Tahiti, Fiji or even the Cook Islands. Nadi Airport (IATA: NAN) in Fiji serves as the main air hub for the Pacific islands, so flying to other Pacific island nations would likely require a plane change there.

However, air routes tend to come and go depending on whether the airlines find them profitable or not. Much of English-speaking Polynesia receives regular flights from Air New Zealand. Melanesia is mainly serviced by national and Australian airlines. Fiji Airways also has a relatively good network of flights form their hub in Nadi to the other Pacific island nations. Don't expect daily flights. Patience is required.

Flying between Micronesia and the other two areas is problematic and may involve flying all the way to Honolulu or a complicated route through Manila, Sydney and Auckland.

Some flight options within Oceania, among others, are:

There are some options for boats, cruise ships, private yachts, adventure cruises, and even cargo ships.

Consult the guide for the destination you are visiting.

Many indigenous languages are spoken throughout Oceania, and with the exception of the Australian aboriginal languages, most of these languages belong to the Austronesian language family which also includes other languages such as Malay, Indonesian and Tagalog.

Due to a history of British and American colonisation, English is the dominant language in Australia and New Zealand, and a common second language throughout much of the Pacific islands with the exception of French-ruled New Caledonia and French Polynesia. In some areas, such as Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, English-based creoles are co-official with standard English, and may be hard to foreigners to understand, though educated locals are almost always able to switch to standard English if necessary. French is naturally the main language in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, while Hindi is also spoken by a significant minority in Fiji, primarily those of Indian descent.

All island groups are fascinating and with time and money you can spend months just travelling around. There are some stunningly beautiful islands (Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia), some fascinating cultures and festivals, some wonderful diving and totally deserted beaches.

Having histories dominated by colonisation, nearly all destinations give travellers opportunities to explore the often grim, but also interesting, stories of the past.

There is some unique wildlife to be discovered in the region. Australia and Papua New Guinea are the homes of marsupials, the species of mammals that include cute favourites like kangaroos, koalas, wombats and possums, and also the Tasmanian devil. Here you will also find the monotremes, in the species of platypus and echidnas, the only mammals in the world to lay eggs.

In New Zealand you can stumble upon (or more easily, see in human-made facilities) the shy and mostly nocturnal kiwi a flightless bird that has given the people of the country their nickname. Other flightless birds include the takahe, thought extinct until 1949, and the kakapo (night parrot). Other evolutionary oddities include the ancient tuatara, bats that hunt on the ground, and frogs that don't croak. A quarter of the world's seabirds breed in the New Zealand region.

Marine life is abundant and diverse throughout and one of the main reasons for travellers to explore this part of the world. Tropical fish and colourful reefs are perfect matches for scuba divers and snorkellers, but much can also be seen from the deck of a boat. You have the opportunities to see larger animals such as manta rays, dolphins and even whales.

In southern Australia and in New Zealand, seals, sea lions and penguins can be seen in their natural habitat, with Kangaroo Island, Phillip Island, coastal Otago and Stewart Island being popular sites.

The Pacific theatre of World War II involved land, sea and air battles between the Axis (mainly Japan) and the Allies (mainly the United States and Australia), from 1941 to 1945.

The remnants of the war can be seen at many places, such as the Kokoda Track on New Guinea.

Cricket is a popular sport in Australia and New Zealand, and is typically played over the summer.

Rugby is one of the most popular sports in Oceania, with rugby union being the dominant code in New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, and rugby league being dominant in Australia and Papua New Guinea. In international competition, New Zealand are widely regarded as the undisputed kings of rugby union, while Australia occupies the same position in rugby league.

The pristine, white sandy beaches found throughout the South Pacific are great for just lying back and enjoying the peace and quiet.

There are locations for diving throughout Oceania. For coral and tropical fish, explore the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, the Ningaloo Reef in Western Australia, Fiji has some reef around Nadi, and spectacular unspoilt, brightly coloured coral on the more remote islands. Samoa is favoured by scuba divers. Cook Islands has accessible reef just off the beach on the main islands. Vanuatu has accessible reef too, but the facilities make it more challenging to access than Fiji. There are diving opportunities in the temperate waters of Tasmania and New Zealand too.

There are good opportunities to dive to shipwrecks. The Rainbow Warrior off New Zealand's North Island is one of the more famous ones, and the oceans of Micronesia have many interesting relics from WWII. The Marshall Islands and Bikini atolls are known as quite a ship graveyard, offering some of the most interesting wrecks in the world, including submarines and the only aircraft carrier accessible to divers. Most of the wreck sites are not for beginners though.

Vava'u in Tonga is a popular destination for yachts crossing the Pacific. Yachts can also be chartered there.

Being an oceanic area, there are countless opportunities for great fishing experiences.

Australia and New Zealand are home to some very significant and famous hiking trails, for example the ones of the Flinders Ranges, Abel Tasman and Tongario National Parks. The rugged, volcanic landscapes of many of the Pacific Islands offer good opportunities as well.

New Zealand has become famous as a place with a well developed infrastructure for almost any kind of adventure and extreme sports. As well as being the birthplace of commercial bungy-jumping, you will also find skydiving, paragliding, river rafting, power boating, rock climbing, cave exploration and a long list of what seems as self-invented combinations. The east coast of Queensland has many opportunities as well. Also, the Blue Mountains near Sydney are great for rock climbing, canyoning and hiking.

The volcanoes and many caves to be found throughout the Pacific islands are fit for some adventurous exploration as well, and the many tropical islands are perhaps even prettier when watched gliding above them.

Although not the first thing coming to mind, there are snow sports in the southern parts of Oceania. New Zealand has reliable winter snowfalls, and around 10-12 ski areas, mostly in the South Island. These include Treble Cone and Cardrona (Wanaka), The Remarkables and Coronet Peak (Queenstown), Mt Hutt near Christchurch and Whakapapa and Turoa on Mt Ruapehu in the North Island. Many northern hemisphere race and olympic teams train in New Zealand during the northern summer. The Snowy Mountains in New South Wales have the largest ski resorts in the southern hemisphere.

Although staple foods from outside the region, such as rice and flour, now have a firm foothold, the traditional staples of roots and tubers remain very important. The cheapest is usually cassava, which also plays a food security role as it can be left in the ground for a long time. Sweet potato is a very important crop and is found in most parts of Oceania with the major producing area being the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Taro and yam are also widespread. The latter is the most valuable of the roots and tubers and there are many customs associated with its cultivation. In the Sepik area of Papua New Guinea, for example, sex between married couples is supposed to be forbidden while the yams are growing. On the other hand, in the Trobriand Islands the yam harvest is a period of sexual liberty.

In Australia and New Zealand, the food culture is largely similar to Europe and Northern America. Nevertheless, there are still some unique dishes and ingredients to be found, some known by the native inhabitants before the arrival of the Europeans, and others invented in more recent times. Thanks to recent immigration, Asian dishes and restaurants are also widely available and popular.

Kava is a drink produced from the roots of a plant related to the pepper plant and found mainly in Polynesia as well as Fiji and Vanuatu. It has a mildly narcotic effect. Other names include 'awa (Hawai'i), 'ava (Samoa), yaqona (Fiji), and sakau (Pohnpei). Traditionally it is prepared by chewing, grinding or pounding the roots of the kava plant. In Tonga, chewing traditionally had to be done by female virgins. Pounding is done in a large stone with a small log. The product is then added to cold water and consumed as quickly as possible, invariably as part of a group of people sitting around and sharing the cup. Check the rules before taking any out of the country, however, as importing kava can be illegal.

If interested in wine tourism, head to Australia or New Zealand. The former is one of the largest wine producers in the Southern Hemisphere.

Almost all of Oceania is safe for visitors, with the exception of Papua New Guinea, which remains a travel destination only for the more adventurous. In particular, Port Moresby has one of the highest violent crime rates in the world.

Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea all have areas where malaria is a risk. Fiji, New Caledonia, the Cook Islands, Samoa and the other islands are malaria free.

Dengue fever, chikungunya and Zika virus is increasingly present in tropical areas. Avoid mosquito bites night and day, especially during an outbreak.

The islands may be remote but sexual diseases know no boundaries. Usual precautions apply.

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Oceania Travel guide at Wikivoyage

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Tennis: Sri Lanka gains promotion to Asia/Pacific Oceania Zone Group II – The Sunday Times Sri Lanka

Posted: at 1:32 am

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Cricket: "SLC regrets the unfortunate incident at MRICS" - CEO

Tennis: Sri Lanka gains promotion to Asia/Pacific Oceania Zone Group II

U-19 Cricket: Revival of Battle of the Lagoons

Swimming: Kyle wins first silver at 17th FINA World Championships

Harshana Godamanna celebrated his 50th Davis Cup appearance by guiding Sri Lanka to get back to the Asia/Pacific Oceania Zone Group II with a convincing 2-0 win over Mubarak Shannan Zayed of Qatar in the Asia/Pacific Oceania Zone Group III promotion tie play off against Qatar played at the SLTA clay court in Greenpath, Colombo on Saturday (22).

The left hander maintained his unbeaten record since the tournament began on July 17 as his win against the Qatari was his fourth on the trot apart from the doubles victory partnered by Sharmal Dissanayake.

Sharmal Dissanayake after winning his first singles tie on day one in the match against Jordan fell back when he was beaten in his next two appearances.

Yet he was buoyed by Harshanas win in the first game against Qatar and he bounced back to keep the Sri Lanka flying high when brushed aside the challenge of Qatari Mousa Shannan Zayid to give host an unbeatable 2-0 lead for Sri Lanka to ensure their promotion to Group II.

Sri Lanka after being in the Group II category for five years saw them being relegated last year after their 5-0 defeat to Indonesia in the relegation tie.

After a year of relegation Sri Lanka will get back to where they were.

Meanwhile Lebanon who had a successful tournament by winning all their four matches in the round robin stage too made their way to the Group II with a convincing 2-0 win over Jordan which was played concurrently at the same venue.

If Harshana was the Sri Lankan star, for Lebanon it was Hady Habib who steered them when he began his sides promotion tie campaign match with a comfortable 2-0 win over Jordans Hamzeh Al Aswad which was his fifth successive win of the tournament. Giovani Samaha added the icing on the cake with a 2-1 win against Mousa Alkotop in the second singles encounter which was sufficient for Lebanon to make their way to the Group II.

In the two relegation play-off matches which was also played at the same saw Syria getting the better of UAE 2-0 while there was a ding dong battle between Pacific Oceania and Turkmenistan with both sharing a win.

Results:

1st to 4th Play-Off

Semi-Finals: Sri Lanka vs Qatar Singles: Harshana Godamanna (Sri Lanka) beat Mubarak Shannan Zayed (Qatar) 2-0 (6/3, 6/3). Sharmal Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) beat Mousa Shannan Zayid (Qatar) 2-0 (6/4, 6/3).

Lebanon vs Jordan Hady Habib (Lebanon) beat Hamzeh Al Aswad (Jordan) 2-0 (6/2, 6/0). Giovani Samaha (Lebanon) beat Mousa Alkotop (Jordan) 2-1 (6/4, 3/6, 6/2).

Pacific Oceania vs Turkmenistan Singles: Aleksandr Ernepesov (Turkministan) beat Heve Kelley (Pacific Oceania) 2-1 (6/3, 1/6, 6/4). Colin Sinclair (Pacific Oceania) beat Isa Mammetgulyyev (Turkministan) 2-1 (4/6, 6/3, 6/2).

Syria vs UAE Singles: Yacoub Makoume (Syria) beat Omar Alawadhi (UAE) 2-1 (4/6, 6/2, 6/3). Kareem Al Allaf (Syria) beat Fahad Janahi (UAE) 2-0 (6/4, 6/2).

Cricket: "SLC regrets the unfortunate incident at MRICS" - CEO

Tennis: Sri Lanka gains promotion to Asia/Pacific Oceania Zone Group II

U-19 Cricket: Revival of Battle of the Lagoons

Swimming: Kyle wins first silver at 17th FINA World Championships

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Three More Medals Take Bahamas Total To 10 – Bahamas Tribune

Posted: at 1:28 am

The Bahamas men's beach soccer team celebrate their bronze medal. Photo - Clarence Rolle CYG

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

TEAM Bahamas picked up three more bronze medals on Saturday - two from Denvaughn Whymns and Shaun Miller Jr in athletics, and one from the beach soccer boys - to push the host country's total count to ten in its best showing ever at the Commonwealth Youth Games.

However, without any gold medals, the Bahamas dropped to number 20 in the medal standings with a total of two silver and eight bronze at the end of the first five days of nine disciple competition for boys and girls between the ages of 14-18 from 64 countries.

Going into Sundays final day of competition, England still tops the chart with 17 gold, 13 silver and 20 bronze for their total of 40. New Zealand is second with 27 (8 gold, 13 silver and six bronze), the same as Australia, who is in third with 8 gold, 11 silver and 8 gold for their total of 27.

While the swimming team didnt pick up any more hardware to go with their three medals two from Izaak Bastian and one from Lilly Higgs the athletic team celebrated as Whymns and Miller Jr joined Adrian Curry and pushed their total to four all bronze.

Judo was the first to break the ice on the opening day of competition at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium with a pair of bronzes from Karra Hanna and Mya Beneby.

Over at the Malcolm Park Beach Soccer facility on Saturday as well, the beach soccer men's team struck for their bronze with a 5-4 decision over Antigua & Barbuda. The women's team were denied the opportunity to get on the podium as they lost 12-3 to the Turks & Caicos Islands in their bronze medal game.

Trinidad & Tobago nipped Jamaica 5-4 for the women's gold medal and St Lucia stopped Trinidad & Tobago 6-2 for the men's gold.

Without much time to recuperate from their trip to the IAAF World Under-18 Championships in Nairobi, Nigeria, Whymns and Miller Jr made up for their shortfall at the biggest junior meet in the world this year.

In the biggest junior multiple games event ever staged in this part of the world, Whymns found enough energy to shake off a poor start to bolt his way into third place in the mens 110 metres hurdles.

His time of 13.88 seconds to good enough to finish behind the 1-2 punch from Englands Samuel Bennett (13.71) and Jack Sumners (13.85) for the gold and silver respectively.

I got off to a really bad start, but I just had to get back into the race and get a medal for my country, a somewhat disappointed Whymns said. This was the second time it happened to me coming to the end of my season.

I could have had two (gold) medals, one at World Youth and one here at home. It wasnt how I expected it to go, but everything happens for a reason.

Like 16-year-old Whymns, Miller Jr rebounded from a sixth place in Nairobi to ensure that he got on the podium here at home.

The 15-year-old Miller Jr did it by soaring 2.01 metres or 6-feet, 7-inches in the mens high jump final to get the bronze. Sean Sheldon Szalek, 16, of Australia took the gold with 2.11m (6-11) and Samuel Hall, 17, of Canada was the silver medalist with 2.09m (6-10 1/4).

Miller Jrs teammate Benjamin Clarke, 16, had to settle for fifth with 1.95m (6-4 3/4) as the two Bahamian rising stars gave the home crowd something to cheer about.

After falling short in Nairobi, Miller Jr said he was confident that he would pick up a medal here at home and he was delighted to take care of business.

The competition was very exciting, especially with it at home, Miller said. It was a fun experience for everybody. I had some good attempts and some bad attempts, but I have to give God thanks for winning a medal at home for my country.

The competition was very intense. Going over to Kenya and jumping 2.11m (6-11) and coming back here and jumping 2.01m (6-7) was very satisfying for me. I got a medal.

Left to complete the games on Sunday are the cycling road race at the Clifton Heritage Park site; the singles mixed doubles in tennis; boxing at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium and athletics at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium before the closing ceremonies bring the curtain down on a successful Commonwealth Youth Games.

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Three More Medals Take Bahamas Total To 10 - Bahamas Tribune

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Offshore bookmaker has Miami Heat with third-best odds to acquire Kyrie Irving – Sun Sentinel

Posted: at 1:28 am

First came the report of interest by Kyrie Irving to relocate. Then came the list of possible trade destinations for the Cleveland Cavaliers guard. So, of course, what follows is a betting line on the possibilities.

And, with that, BetDSI.eu, presented a proposition about what might come next, with the Miami Heat among Irving's preferred landing spots.

Which team will Kyrie Irving be traded to?

New York Knicks +350

San Antonio Spurs +400

Miami Heat +550

Minnesota Timberwolves +700

Not Traded Before 2017-18 Regular Season Starts +1000

Field (all other NBA teams) +200

That essentially would make the Cavaliers retaining Irving for the start of next season the longest odds on the board (risking $100 to win $1,000).

The oddsmakers at the book report that their odds on the Cavaliers winning the 2017-18 NBA championship would drop from 4-to-1 to 7-to-1 should Irving be dealt.

That, of course, figures to be a changing variable based on what the Cavaliers could possibly receive in return, should a deal go through. It also speaks volumes of the continued respect for LeBron James nonetheless advancing to an eighth straight championship series.

According to the website, BookMaker.eu was established in 1985 and is located in Costa Rica.

iwinderman@sunsentinel.com. Follow him at twitter.com/iraheatbeat or facebook.com/ira.winderman

For daily Heat mailbag go to sun-sentinel.com/askira

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Offshore bookmaker has Miami Heat with third-best odds to acquire Kyrie Irving - Sun Sentinel

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Industry Sways Feds to Allow Offshore Drilling in Laurentian Channel Marine Protected Area – DeSmog Canada

Posted: at 1:28 am


DeSmog Canada
Industry Sways Feds to Allow Offshore Drilling in Laurentian Channel Marine Protected Area
DeSmog Canada
If an ocean valley becomes federally protected but seismic work and offshore drilling is allowed in more than 80 per cent of the territory, is it really federally protected? That's the question facing Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which ...

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Industry Sways Feds to Allow Offshore Drilling in Laurentian Channel Marine Protected Area - DeSmog Canada

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DIANE DIMOND: Hit the high seas, but be careful | Opinion … – Stillwater News Press

Posted: at 1:27 am

Summertime. Vacation time. No time to let your guard down. Traditionally, crime goes up during warmer weather, with property crimes and aggravated assaults on the rise. In some locations, murder rates increase, too. When temperatures rise, there are more windows left open, more sweaty and irritated people seeking relief outside, and more alcoholic beverages consumed in public, all of which can prompt bad behavior.

Maybe you and your family have decided to take an ocean cruise to get away from it all this summer. Well, beware, because there is crime on the high seas, too sometimes violent crime. And consider this: A vessel might be registered in the Bahamas, headquartered in Miami, traveling in international waters and carrying passengers from any number of foreign countries, so law enforcement jurisdiction is murky.

If the ship departs from, say, Florida, and a crime is committed onboard, the local police might investigate once the cruise liner returns to port. The feds have jurisdiction if a crime has occurred against a U.S. national on a ship that has departed or will arrive back in the States. The FBI might be assigned to investigate. But these professionals will be days removed from when the crime was committed. Every detective will tell you that evidence gathered immediately following a crime is often crucial to prosecution.

The cruise industry says it caters to more than 24 million customers each year and that crime rates on board one of those massive floating hotels is a small fraction of the comparable rates of crime on land.

But on dry land, you can immediately call 911 for help. You likely have a cop shop a few minutes driving distance from your location and a fully equipped hospital nearby. On a cruise ship, perhaps hundreds of miles out at sea, youve got ... well, youve got whatever the ship has to offer.

An official with the Cruise Lines International Association insists there is robust security onboard to assure passengers are safe. But lets get real: Any security officers are working for the cruise line, and their primary allegiance may not be to a victimized passenger. Their efforts gathering evidence, taking witness statements or tracking down suspects may be lacking.

NBC News has reported extensively on cruise line crime and calculated that of the 92 alleged crimes reported on cruise ships last year, 62 were sexual assaults. Im guessing here, but I bet the combination of hot temperatures and free-flowing booze tends to reduce passengers inhibitions. But most frightening is that a majority of the sexual assaults be they committed by crew members or passengers were never prosecuted. A congressional report from a few years ago found that minors were the victims in a third of those sexual assaults.

The dirty secret in the cruise line industry is that crime does occur on cruise ships and very often law enforcement isnt notified, evidence isnt preserved, people arent assisted, said Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. He is sponsoring a bill in the U.S. Senate that would require cruise lines to report any claim of criminal activity to the FBI within four hours, turn over all video evidence, earmark cases in which youngsters are involved and include a federal officer called a sea marshal on each ship. Id like to add that each vessel be equipped with a proper evidentiary rape kit.

NBCs reporting included stories about victimized teenage girls, one of whom tried to commit suicide after she alleged that she was given alcohol and raped onboard a cruise to the Virgin Islands. Another teen interviewed claimed she was sexually assaulted by a crew member in the ships gym. Jim Walker, a Miami attorney, said his firm has represented many victims of alleged cruise ship crime, including one who was just 3 years old.

The average passenger load on an ocean liner is about 3,000. But some mega-cruise liners can hold up to 6,000. Whenever you get that many people in a finite space, lulled by adult activities over here and supervised children and youth activities over there, trouble can develop.

Im sure the cruise lines do their very best to fully vet and hire suitable employees. It would not be in their best interest to do otherwise. But this summer, if you are taking the family on a once-in-a-lifetime cruise to paradise, dont let your guard down. Have a wonderful vacation, but realize that crime can happen anywhere, and you and yours are not immune.

Diane Dimond is a syndicated columnist and television reporter of high-profile court cases.

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DIANE DIMOND: Hit the high seas, but be careful | Opinion ... - Stillwater News Press

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Microsoft To Bring Internet Access To Rural American Communities – The Lafayette Sun

Posted: at 1:26 am

Microsoft has organized a five-year plan to bring the Internet to rural America. The corporate giant has pledged to grant Internet access for 2 million Americans. Additionally, Microsoft is aiming to encourage additional phone companies to spread broadband accessibility to the whole 23.4 million Americans living in rural areas without Internet connection.

As of 2016, the Internet is used on a daily basis by 70% of Americans. Easily accessible by many and a source of information on-the-go, the modern use of the Internet could very well be compared to the pre-modern use of the public library system.

Because its used by so many as a way of communicating information and knowledge to one another, the intentional obstruction of Internet access to civilians has been dubbed a violation of human rights according to the United Nations.

However, many Americans are not barred from Internet access intentionally. Many Americans living in poverty are unable to access the Internet because they cannot afford it. And for those in rural areas of the United States, it just simply isnt available.

NPR reports, In some rural areas, parents have to drive their kids to the parking lot of the local library so their kids can file homework. In 2017, not being online hurts your education, your job prospects, your civic engagement. It also increases your chances of identity theft. In 2016, one in 16 Americans were victims of identity theft, a crime which benefits more from the theft of physical documents than the theft of personal information stored online.

NPR reports that Microsoft previously opted out of transmitting broadband data in rural American areas because of the lack of profit that would result from such a business venture. However, it seems Microsoft has had a change of heart.

We perhaps looked less than we should have at what was happening in rural America, says Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, to NPR. We went overseas, and thats a good thing. We should be around the world. But we also should be focused on our own backyards.

The corporation is planning to utilize technology called TV white spaces, which is a more affordable technology that runs on a wireless spectrum as a means of transmitting broadband data. Closing the Internet gap between rural and urban areas, according to Microsoft, would cost up to $10 billion. However, this is 80% less expensive than if the company chose to use a more expensive infrastructure.

Microsoft has begun speaking with the Federal Communications Commission, headed by chairman Ajit Pai, and has asked them to not only guide politicians in the right direction regarding the rural initiative, but also to collect the necessary data on the broadband coverage of rural American areas. While one should always hesitate to be optimistic about anything in our nations capital these days, says Smith, I do think there is a cause for optimism around this.

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Microsoft To Bring Internet Access To Rural American Communities - The Lafayette Sun

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Karuna Pande Joshi and Tim Finin – Singularity Hub

Posted: at 1:25 am

Karuna P. Joshi is an associate research professor at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, whose primary research area is Cloud Computing, Data Science, and Healthcare IT. She is working on projects related to secure and oblivious cloud storage and automating legal cloud documents. She has developed a framework to automate the acquisition and consumption of cloud based services. She has also worked in collaboration with NIST to develop standards for cloud usability. She received her MS and PhD in Computer Science from UMBC, where she was twice awarded the IBM PhD Fellowship.

Tim Finin is a professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He has over 35 years of experience in applications of artificial intelligence to problems in information systems and language understanding. His current research is focused on the semantic web, mobile computing, analyzing and extracting information from text and online social media, and on enhancing security and privacy in information systems.

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Karuna Pande Joshi and Tim Finin - Singularity Hub

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Ascension 4-H’ers Out of This World at 4-HU – Donaldsonville Chief

Posted: at 1:22 am

Over 1,300 4-Hers from across Louisiana traveled to the LSU campus in Baton Rouge, June 20-23, for an Out of This World experience at 4-H University. During 4-H University, 4-Hers can choose to compete in one of over 40 different competitions or attend the non-competitive clover college, run for a 4-H State Office position or 4-H State Board, serve as a voting delegate, and attend educational programs.

In addition to learning and competing, youth get an inside view of the college experience. 4-Hers get to stay on the LSU campus in the dorms, learn the campus by traveling to different locations for contests and educational programs, and attend assemblies in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

This years 4-H University theme was 4-H is Out of this World and Ascension Parish 4-H was well represented with 18 4-Hers participating in a wide range of contests and educational programs.

In addition to contest winners, several 4-Hers were selected to serve on a 4-H State Board after submitting a written application and going through a rigorous interview process. James Daigle was selected to serve on that State 4-H Shooting Sports Board for a two year term, Stacey Kloosterman was selected to serve on the State 4-H Fashion Board for a second one year term, Caitlin Marquis and Kinslei Scroggs were both selected to serve on the State 4-H Citizenship board for a one year term. Each of these 4-Hers will assist their fellow board members in planning and conducting state 4-H Activities in their respective board areas.

Two 4-Hers from each parish served as voting delegates to participate in the business activities of 4-H University. Ascension 4-Hs delegates, Charles Sanchez and Makenna Babin, assisted in the democratic process of electing the State 4-H Officers, Regional Representatives and conducting the yearly business of the 4-H organization.

2017 Ascension Parish 4-H Results:

ATV Safety: Blue Ribbon Winner - Paige Zeringue

Fashion Review- Creative Choice: Fourth Place- Stacey Kloosterman

Fishing Sports Team: Fourth Place- James Daigle, Alex Milazzo, and Noah Stafford

Fishing Sports Individual Awards: Blue Ribbon - James Daigle; Blue Ribbon - Alex Milazzo

Horticulture Demonstration (team): Fourth Place Allie Daigle and Maci Schexnayder

Insect Identification: Blue Ribbon Winner Zoe Schwaller

Louisiana Chef (team): Blue Ribbon Winners Charles Sanchez and Zack Zeringue

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Ascension 4-H'ers Out of This World at 4-HU - Donaldsonville Chief

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