It was late at night when the priest raised the alarm.

Heavy rain was falling on Gobindghat, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas where Sikh pilgrims stop on their way to a holy site farther into the mountains.

A monsoon deluge had swept in earlier and heavier than usual in this part of northern India, bringing a risk of floods.

But before residents and pilgrims in the town could heed the priest's warning, water had engulfed the town.

"Some people climbed upwards, some ran here and there," said Gurjit Singh, who had traveled to Gobindghat with his 12-year-old son. "It was chaos."
Survivors of India floods recount horror
Monsoon rains drench India
Flood washes cars away in India

Barrages of water, mud and rocks have hit scores of towns and villages in the Indian state of Uttarakhand in the past week, inundating homes, shrines, roads and vehicles.

Uttarakhand's chief minister, Vijay Bahuguna, has described the disaster as a "Himalayan tsunami."

Dotted with temples and often referred to as "the Land of Gods," Uttarakhand attracts large numbers of pilgrims from around India to its mountainous reaches. Those travelers, many of them far from home and short on belongings, are now caught up in the destruction.

Thousands of rescue workers are trying to reach more than 50,000 people cut off by the waters. Bahuguna told CNN's sister network CNN-IBN on Friday night that the death toll was 556 but could rise. The bodies "were either buried or floating in slush," he said. It will take 15 days to complete evacuations in the province, he added.

Other parts of northern India, including New Delhi, have also been hit by flooding, but Uttarakhand has suffered the worst of the devastation.

The rains over the region have eased in the past few days, aiding in the rescue of about 30,000 people, Bahuguna said.

'A second life'

"There was nothing but death in front of us," Singh said Thursday after getting out of a crowded car ferrying people to dry, flat land. "Now that we've got out, we feel like we've got a second life."

His son, Rana Udesh Pratap, said the trek to safety was long.

"I held my father's hand and walked and walked and walked on a narrow path," he said. The two had made a pilgrimage to Uttarakhand from the nearby state of Punjab to visit the Sikh Hemkunt Sahib shrine.

Others were still struggling with what they had endured.

A man named Kailash told CNN-IBN that he, his wife and 4-year-old son didn't know how they were going to get back to their home in Jodhpur, hundreds of kilometers to the southwest.

"We don't have a penny, how will we reach home?" he asked, explaining that his family had gone hungry for three days before they were evacuated to a hospital in the town of Rudrapyrayag.

They had been in Kedarnath, a centuries-old Hindu holy town at the heart of the destruction. Pictures show the town's temple surrounded by mud and rocks.

Kailash recalled what he and his family endured before they were flown out.

"We had to walk over dead bodies," he said. "Nothing is left there, everything is finished. We can't even find our relatives."

A search for the missing

Others were searching for relatives amid the chaos. A Facebook page for rescue and relief in Uttarakhand was peppered with pleas for help in finding people.

"It is with great hope that I am writing to you to alleviate the distress of my family," wrote Shantalu Srivastava in a post seeking information about his brother, sister-in-law and two nieces.

Srivastava said that the family had traveled to Kedarnath from Lucknow, in the neighboring state of Uttar Pradesh, and that he had last heard from them Sunday.

The national government has dispatched the army to help with rescue efforts and promised 10 billion rupees ($170 million) in disaster relief funds to the Uttarakhand government.

Some observers are saying the disaster was man-made.

Devinder Sharma, an environmentalist, blamed industrial activity in India's Himalayan region.

"This havoc is a result of massive deforestation and mining," he said. "It's an ecocide."

[readon1 url="http://contacto-latino.com/en/news/201301/100759060/nothing-but-death-in-front-of-us-survivors-of-india-floods-recount-horror-cnn-international"]Source:CNN India[/readon1]

Hundreds of danish mothers made an unusual protest on Monday: they breastfed their babies in front of the municipal government of Copenhague as a way of protest, after the customers of a cafe criticised a mother by saying that breastfeeding in public is unpleasant.

The protest was organized by the mother Trine Maria Larsen with the objective of promoting public breastfeeding. She said that customers of a cafe came to criticise her for it. The woman told the journal Politiken that some of them had compared breastfeeding to "going to the toilet while eating".

Public breastfeeding is something common in nordic countries but Larsen, a Danish bloguer, said that complaints have been increasing against mothers who brestfeed in restaurants and cafes. She organized the act to compel businesses to not prohibit the custom in their premises.

Doctors recommend mothers to breastfeed their children at least for six months.

[readon1 url="http://www.prensaglobal.com/notas/48479.html"]Source:Prensaglobal.com Translated by Rene Tripp[/readon1]

BEIJING –  Chinese state television has  shown men catching a 2-and-a-half-year-old girl who apparently fell from a  fifth-story window.

The girl, Qiqi, escaped with small scrapes on her face.

The security camera footage aired by CCTV showed a group of men in an alley  pointing and looking up the side of a building. They dash into a huddle just as  the youngster falls into their arms.

CCTV said workers at a delivery company nearby heard the girl crying as her  legs dangled out the window. The report quoted her parents as saying they left  Qiqi home alone while she was sleeping but she climbed onto the windowsill after  she woke.

It happened Thursday in Ninghai, in eastern Zhejiang province.

 Unemployment among youth age 15 to 24 is nearly 2.4 times that of older Canadians, a record wide gap, but that figure doesn't capture the entire cohort of economically vulnerable youth and some of the nuances of the job situation for young people, a report on youth unemployment from CIBC World Markets Inc. has found.

According to Statistics Canada, 14.3 per cent of Canadians age 15 to 24 who are in the labour force were unemployed in 2012, compared to six per cent of workers age 25 and up. In the agency's April 2013 labour survey, the rates were little changed, at 14.5 per cent for those 15 to 24 and 5.8 per cent for those 25 to 54.

But the CIBC report argues that most youth unemployment statistics don't capture the whole picture and that it's important to look at the work situations of specific cohorts of the young population, which numbers about 4.5 million.

High school students between age 15 and 18 who are looking for part-time work, for example, should not be counted as unemployed, the report suggests. But youth between 15 and 24 who are not enrolled in school or participating in the labour market should be captured.

Those young people number 225,000 and are an important component of the employment picture, the report says. It is this group — along with those young people who are not enrolled in school but who are registered as unemployed — that gives the most telling picture of youth unemployment, the report says.

"From a policy perspective, this is the pressing problem as this combined group consists of 420,000 economically at risk youth, or nearly one in 10 of young Canadians," said the report's author, Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist of CIBC World Markets Inc.

"These youth face a harsh job market environment, real entry barriers and likely do not have the skills necessary to compete."

The report warns that this group of unemployed youth will likely remain chronically unemployed unless action is taken to provide them with specific education and skills.

Education not enough

An education alone, however, is not a guarantee of employment any more, the report warned. While more youth are getting a higher education today than ever, "increasingly, students are completing their education without any work experience and are more likely to be caught in the no job-no experience, and no experience-no job cycle," the report said.

About 44 per cent of those age 20 to 24 are enrolled in school but only 76 per cent are in the labour market.

"One in five youth not working today has never held a job," the report said. "That is 40 per cent higher than the long-term average and just shy of the record high reached in the late 1990s."

Lack of job experience is making it harder for youth to enter an already tough job market.

Traditional career opportunities are drying up and finding summer employment has become more difficult, which also makes it harder for students to fund their education.

Temporary and contract work is on the rise, with 12 per cent of young workers in these types of jobs, compared to eight per cent in the 1990s.

More innovation, flexibility needed

Traditional co-op programs are no longer enough to smooth the transition from school to the work world, the report said.

Government job initiatives need to be more focused and politicians need to put measures in place today to limit the hardship that young Canadians could face in the next economic slowdown, the report said.

"One of the priorities of the Canadian education system needs to be more innovation and flexibility in combining education and work-related training," Tal wrote.

"Research is also needed to better understand how concepts such as team work, creative thinking, problem-solving and leadership skills enhance the employability of students and then, to find ways to incorporate these concepts into the curriculum."

[readon1 url="http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/06/20/business-youth-unemployment-cibc.html"]Source:www.cbc.ca[/readon1]

(CNN) -- A few years ago, Debbie Jankowski went hunting for a way to bring her life new joy. She found the solution in her bank account.

"I had always been thrifty, but I decided it was time to spend money on things that would broaden my world," says Jankowski, who lives in Philadelphia.

She splurged on sightseeing in Ireland and jungle-roaming in Costa Rica with her husband, along with a yoga retreat closer to home.

"These outings have refreshed me and given me perspective," she says.

New research confirms what Jankowski discovered: Money can buy happiness -- if you spend wisely. We asked experts to explain this and other glee strategies, none of which require rose-colored glasses or doing anything with life's lemons.

1. Buy some bliss -- really

FYI, you won't find it at the mall. "Purchasing things like televisions, clothes and coffee machines won't make you happier overall -- but buying experiences maximizes happiness," says Michael Norton, associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and co-author of the book, "Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending."

Research shows that people who purchased concert tickets, a series of crochet lessons or simply a Tuesday night dinner out were happier than those who spent their money on tangible goods.

For one, it's because we humans tend to get maximum pleasure and vitality from social bonding. Yet the payoffs start before you leave home.

"The anticipation of an experience can be as valuable a source of happiness as the experience itself," Norton says. "And for months afterward, recalling the event continues to make you happy."

The cherished-memories effect can even work for outings that went awry: Other research finds that people tend to remember things as having been better than they were (which is why some paid good money to see the movie, "The Hangover Part III").

Not that there's anything wrong with a little materialism every now and then, Norton says. But the emphasis is on now and then. "We get sick of even the most amazing things in life if we have them all the time."

Another strategy: Buy now, consume later. Economists talk about the "pain of paying" effect -- the negative feelings of parting with our hard-earned cash.

The more time that lapses between shelling out for something and getting it, the happier you'll be with it. That's why Norton preorders books on Amazon: "When it shows up two months later, it feels free."

Health.com: Boost your mood naturally

2. Getting older

Happiness dips when women are about 40 and comes roaring back as they approach 50, finds a study of 500,000 women and men in 72 countries. (For men the slump typically hits at 52.) Scientists haven't yet explained the bliss boomerang, but anyone familiar with what it's like to make dinner, field five PTA calls and pay 2,300 bills in one night might have a theory.

"Women in their 40s tend to put themselves last among all the demands they face," says Vivian Diller, a clinical psychologist in New York City." They get squeezed between the challenges of raising kids and caring for their aging parents, and may feel that life is passing them by."

As kids leave the nest, women have time to nurture themselves again -- although there are easy ways to up your happiness right now.

"I remind mothers of the safety tip given in airplanes: Put the oxygen mask on yourself first so you can help those in your care," Diller says. Schedule a daily "me" time "that does not budge for anyone or anything, except emergencies," she continues.

The steps to happiness

Happiest countries in the world

Dr. Weil discuses fighting his depression

You also want to prioritize stuff that truly brings you joy, whether it's Saturday-morning gardening or a weekly racquetball date with your partner.

For Carrie Jablonow in Scottsdale, Arizona, focusing on only her most meaningful friendships has helped.

"I don't have a few spare moments to give to someone who doesn't make me happy -- even responding to a text," she says. "I also no longer bother with uncomfortable clothes. Good-bye, skinny jeans."

Health.com: 12 Ways We Sabotage Our Mental Health

3. Forget self-improvement

Basking in what's already great about yourself is a more effective route to joy than trying to fix what's not, says Willibald Ruch, a professor of psychology at the University of Zurich who studies character strengths and happiness.

Identify your strong suits with the free Values in Action Inventory of Strengths Survey. Developed by psychologists, it takes about 15 minutes to fill out, then provides a ranked list of your 24 strongest qualities -- anything from creativity to perseverance.

"Think about how you might use your top five strengths in your relationship, at the office and in your free time," says Ruch. People who consistently apply "signature strengths" experience less depression and more happiness.

4. Make tough stuff work

Yes, even layoffs and broken bones can have silver linings. To use an extreme example, studies of women diagnosed with breast cancer found that the majority experienced numerous positive emotional changes, including new life priorities and more self-confidence -- catalysts for happiness.

"Not that we wish cancer on anyone, but it's often negative experiences that help us grow and learn, which is vital for being happy," says Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology at the University of California in Riverside and author of the book, "The Myths of Happiness." When upheaval strikes, she says, consider how you have improved as a result.

"I had postpartum depression, and while I'm angry that I missed out on my daughter's first weeks of life, I can say that I'm a happier, less-anxious person as a result," says Stephanie Lutz, of Colts Neck, New Jersey. "I no longer have that perfectionist streak of 'if I can't do it right, I don't want it done at all.' I've learned to go with the flow."

Health.com: Depressed? 12 mental tricks to turn it around

5. Spend 21 minutes focusing on your relationship

As anyone who has argued with his or her spouse about tackling the pile of mail knows, a good marriage takes effort and time. How about 21 minutes a year?

Researchers at Northwestern University tracked the marital bliss of 120 couples. Half of them did a seven-minute exercise three times a year in which they pondered three questions:

1. How would a neutral third party view your recent marital spat?

2. Going forward, what obstacles stand in your way of thinking like this third party during arguments?

3. How might you succeed at thinking like the third party during conflicts -- and how would it help your relationship?

Couples who evaluated their relationship this way had less argument-induced stress -- and significantly higher levels of happiness and passion than those who didn't quiz themselves.

"Many studies show that marriage quality tends to decline over time," says study author Eli Finkel, a professor of psychology, "so it's important to be proactive."

Health.com: 29 Days to a Healthier Relationship

6. Try a tearjerker

Maybe watching the movie "The Notebook" isn't most people's idea of a euphoric night in, but a study from Ohio State University finds that the more sadness people experienced during a movie, the greater their reported feelings of happiness were after the flick.

Three-tissue movies put us in a thoughtful mood, says study author Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, professor at Ohio State's School of Communications. "The sadness that you feel as a result of watching unfulfilled love, for instance, can spur you to think about your relationships -- and appreciate what you have."

7. Love your commute

People who walk or bike to the office may be happier than those who drive or take the bus, finds a 2012 study of 800 people in Portland, Oregon.

The reasons are what you'd expect: You're in control of the timing, there's an endorphin rush from exercise and no traffic. But if you have to drive, you can still arrive at the office perky.

"Commuting is actually a good time for built-in introspection and reflection," says Todd Kashdan, associate professor of psychology at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

Quit glaring at the cars ahead and think about something for which you're thankful. People who are grateful on a regular basis are more likely to report feeling content, research shows.

And by all means, turn on the tunes; listening to music releases dopamine, a mood-enhancing hormone. (Ta-da! Scientific proof that Katy Perry can be good for you.)

Health.com: Stress Relief Tips From Around the World

8. Take credit for giving

By all means, donate to the humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders. But consider doing closer-to-home good deeds, too.

"While giving to charity brings more happiness than spending money on yourself, our research finds that doing things for people you know makes you happiest," Norton says. You will love the joy rush you get from the positive feedback.

9. Fake it until you feel it

When you're bummed out, the mere act of smiling can cheer you up. The reasons for this effect have yet to be pinpointed, but one study at the University of Kansas in Lawrence reveals that flashing a grin slows down your heart rate during stress and chills you out.

And if you can't bear to smile? Sadness and the occasional bad mood are natural, too. No human can be happy 24/7, and maybe that's the happiest news of all.

[readon1 url="http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/19/health/nine-happiness-tips"]Source:www.cnn.com[/readon1]

Hong Kong (CNN) -- Eight years ago, Leanne Rowe was in a serious car crash that resulted in a broken back and jaw. But when the former bus driver and Australian Army Reserve member recovered, she was left with something completely unexpected: a French accent.

Rowe, who is now unable to speak with her original Aussie accent, said she has become a "recluse," and often has her daughter speak for her in public.
"I am not French," Rowe told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Sunday. "It makes me so angry because I am Australian."
How can this occur?

Foreign accent syndrome is an extremely rare condition in which brain injuries change a person's speech patterns, giving them a different accent. The first known case was reported in 1941, when a Norwegian woman suffered shrapnel injuries to the brain during a German bombing run -- and started speaking with a German accent. Since then there have been only a few dozen reported cases.

"It's an impairment of motor control," said Dr. Karen Croot, one of the few experts in foreign accent syndrome. "Speech is one of the most complicated things we do, and there are a lot of brain centers involved in coordinating a lot of moving parts. If one or more of them are damaged, that can affect the timing, melody and tension of their speech.

"In a sense it's not a communication impairment -- a person can make themselves understood perfectly well."
But foreign accent syndrome can be psychologically difficult for sufferers.

"There can be a lack of understanding of how difficult it can be for the person with the acquired accent," said Croot. "There's sort of a response of, 'get rid of the accent, stop putting it on, go back.' If you think about your own accent, it's a part of your identity. Changing your accent projects a different identity."
Severe migraine gives British woman Chinese accent

In 2010, Sarah Colwill, a 35-year-old British woman, began speaking with what sounded like a Chinese accent after suffering a serious migraine.
"To think I am stuck with this Chinese accent is getting me down," she said. "My voice has started to annoy me now. It is not my voice."
Yet other patients don't mind as much.

"One of the ladies I worked with was an English speaker who started sounding Irish. She reported feeling positive about it. For her it was sort of an interesting new persona.
"
Other patients eventually see their speech return to normal. "I worked on a case of an Australian who was in a car accident, and consequently had an American accent. That accent went away about 5 months later," said Croot.

According to Croot, sufferers may try to regain their former accents by doing exercises. "They need to practice repositioning their mouth, just as they would practice a tennis serve. It's motor skill practice."

Treatments used for similar motor speech disorders, apraxia of speech and dysarthria, have also been deployed for patients of foreign accent syndrome in the last few years with "positive" results.

Rowe, however, has decided to stop trying to "hold in" her accent. "For me, it was not healthy," she said.
"It has affected her life greatly," her daughter explained. "People see the funny side of it, and think it's really interesting... but I've seen the impacts on mum's life.

[readon1 url="http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/world/australia-car-crash-new-french-accent/index.html?hpt=wo_c2"]Source: trib.com[/readon1]

A massive explosion at a fireworks warehouse killed two workers Thursday, police said, leaving a huge plume of smoke blanketing an area west of Montreal.

A series of explosions spread from the charred building after the initial blast at B.E.M. Fireworks near Valleyfield, Quebec. Images from the scene showed a building near a major highway completely destroyed.

Provincial police said two bodies were found in the wreckage but they did not identify them.

Nearly two hours after the blast, fireworks could still be heard exploding at the scene of the fire that continued to burn out of control hours after the explosion, according to witnesses.

Local fire chief Stephane Massicotte said since the warehouse was filled with pyrotechnics it was difficult to battle the blaze.

"This caused a huge amount of flames and very intense heat," Massicotte told reporters.

He said 150 firefighters were used to battle the flames, which were under control by early Thursday afternoon. Reporters on the ground also indicated that there were no fire hydrants in the vicinity.

"All of a sudden I heard, boom, boom, bang,'" Mario Cramerstetter said from his office, which is just over a mile (1.6 kilometers) away from the site.

"Initially I thought it was a bulldozer or a tractor but then we saw a big puff smoke. We kept on hearing popping, fireworks going off all the time."

Cramerstetter said it looked like a small building caught fire first and then spread to a larger storage unit.

"We got really, really, really scared," said Ginette Liboiron, who runs a convenience store across a highway overpass.

"I thought my store was falling to the ground. It shook like you can't imagine... We all went outside to see and saw the big, incredible smoke," she said. "It went high up in the air, then it became black, black, black."

Police ordered the surrounding community of Coteau-du-Lac evacuated. A nearby highway was also closed in both directions.

Police also said low traces of metal materials were found in the surrounding area.

Video captured by a news helicopter showed fireworks igniting inside the remnants of the smoldering building.

According to its website, B.E.M. has been designing and manufacturing pyrotechnics and fireworks for 25 years.

Robert Sauve, the mayor of Coteau-du-Lac, said the business has about 20 employees and the owner lives in the community, less than an hour's drive southwest of Montreal.

"This was a very respectable business, and it seems what happened this morning was an accident," he told reporters.

[readon1 url="http://trib.com/news/national/canada/big-explosion-at-quebec-fireworks-factory-kills/article_80948a15-b366-5399-a0a8-2c43600e554f.html"]Source: trib.com[/readon1]

As many as 100,000 people could be forced from their homes by heavy flooding in western Canada, Calgary city officials said, while mudslides forced the closure of the Trans-Canada Highway, isolating the mountain resort towns of Banff and Canmore.

Torrential rains and widespread flooding throughout southern Alberta on Thursday washed out roads and bridges, left at least one person missing and caused cars, couches and refrigerators to float away. Communities just south of Calgary were hit hard.

Officials said the evacuation would take place in stages over the next few days. The province reported that 12 communities were under states of emergency.

One woman who had been stranded on top of a trailer was missing after it was swept away, STARS air ambulance spokesman Cam Heke said.

Motorists who were trapped overnight Wednesday by water spilling over Canada's main western highway had to be rescued by helicopter, Town of Canmore spokeswoman Sally Caudill said.

"I woke up at about three o'clock in morning to the sound of this kind of rumbling, and it was the creek," said Wade Graham, a resident of Canmore. "At first it was just intense, pretty powerful, amazing thing to watch. As daylight came, it just got bigger and bigger and wider and wider, and it's still getting bigger and bigger and wider and wider."

He added, "I watched a refrigerator go by, I watched a shed go by, I watched couches go by. It's insane."

Bruce Burrell, director of the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, said water levels on the Bow River aren't expected to subside until Saturday afternoon. The Bow River Basin already has been battered with up to 100 mm (3.9 inches) of rain.

"Depending on the extent of flooding we experience overnight, there may be areas of the city where people are not going to be able to get into until the weekend," he told a news conference.

In High River, Mounties asked people with motorboats to help rescue at least a dozen stranded homeowners.

"We have people on their rooftops who were unable to evacuate fast enough," said RCMP Sgt. Patricia Neely.

Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for the affected areas, estimating as much as 100 millimetres more rain could fall in the next two day

[readon1 url="http://trib.com/news/national/canada/flooding-may-force-from-west-canada-homes/article_98b44e10-f44b-5ac3-9dc8-83287384b7c5.html"]Source:trib.com[/readon1]

The Afghan Taliban are ready to free a U.S. army soldier held captive since 2009 in exchange for five of their senior operatives imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay as a conciliatory gesture, a senior spokesman for the group said Thursday.

Spokesman Shaheen Suhail says the Taliban wants to \Spokesman Shaheen Suhail says the Taliban wants to "build bridges of confidence" with the U.S. (Tariq Aziz/Associated Press)

The offer came as an Afghan government spokesman said President Hamid Karzai is now willing to join planned peace talks with the Taliban — provided that the Taliban flag and nameplate are removed from the militant group's newly opened political office in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar. Karzai also wants a formal letter from the United States supporting the Afghan government.

The only known American soldier held captive from the Afghan war is U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl of Hailey, Idaho. He disappeared from his base in southeastern Afghanistan on June 30, 2009, and is believed held in Pakistan.

In an exclusive telephone interview with The Associated Press from his Doha office, Taliban spokesman Shaheen Suhail said on Thursday that Bergdahl "is, as far as I know, in good condition."

Suhail did not elaborate on Bergdahl's current whereabouts.

It is not clear, however, if the offer is good with the entire Taliban.

A spokesman, located in Afghanistan, for the militant group "said the offer is not valid," according to freelance reporter Jennifer Glasse.

"This leads to some concerns about who is really speaking for the Taliban," and whether the officials in Qatar "have control," of the organization, Glasse told CBC News on Thursday.

Brian Stewart: Forget the cynics, why the Taliban might just want peace

Bergdahl's parents earlier this month received a letter from their son who turned 27 on March 28 through the International Committee of the Red Cross. They did not release details of the letter but renewed their plea for his release.

The prisoner exchange is the first item on the Taliban's agenda before even opening peace talks, added Suhail, who was first secretary at the Afghan Embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad before the Taliban government's ouster in 2001.

"First has to be the release of detainees,” Sukhail said when asked about Bergdahl. "Yes. It would be an exchange. Then step by step, we want to build bridges of confidence to go forward."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with the Taliban while in Qatar for talks on the Syrian civil war.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with the Taliban while in Qatar for talks on the Syrian civil war. (Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was expected in Doha ahead of Saturday's conference on the Syrian civil war.

While in Qatar, Kerry is also expected to meet with the Taliban, who opened their political office earlier this week.

But complications set in almost immediately when Afghan President Hamid Karzai became infuriated by the Taliban's move to cast their new office in Doha as a rival embassy.

The Taliban held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday in which they hoisted their flag and a banner with the name they used while in power more than a decade ago: "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."

Later, the Taliban replaced the sign to read simply: "Political office of the Taliban."

Karzai pulled out of the talks and suspended negotiations with the United States on a bilateral security agreement that would cover those U.S. troops who remained behind after the final withdrawal of NATO combat troops at the end of 2014.

Suhail said the Taliban are insistent that they want their first interlocutors to be the United States.

"First we talk to the Americans about those issues concerning the Americans and us and for those issues implementation is only in the hands of the Americans," he said.

"We want foreign troops to be pulled out of Afghanistan," he added. "If there are troops in Afghanistan then there will be a continuation of the war."

[readon1 url="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/06/20/taliban-free-solider-qatar-talks.html"]Source:www.cbc.ca[/readon1]

Look out Vine: Instagram isn't just about sharing arty photos anymore.

On Thursday, the company announced its 130 million monthly users will now be able to shoot and share 15-second videos, dressed up with one of 13 special filters.

The new video feature was made available to all iOS and Android Instagram users around the world Thursday as a free update to the existing Instagram app. The basic look of the app is the same, but a small movie icon has been added that takes you into video mode.

The changes were announced by Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom during a press event at the headquarters of Facebook, which bought Instagram last year.

"It's everything we know and love about Instagram, but it moves," Systrom said.

The video-sharing feature was widely expected and puts Instagram in direct competition with Vine, the popular Twitter-owned app that lets users share looping six-second video clips. Vine has skyrocketed in popularity in the six months since it launched, attracting more than 13 million users. Many of the six-second videos have a unique look and feel, employing fast cuts and stop-motion animations to tell quirky little stories.

Vine, Instagram and the rise of bite-sized video

On Instagram, the videos can be between three and 15 seconds long and include any number of individual video clips. But the coolest feature may come after you shoot the video: 13 brand-new filters, created by an artist specifically for Instagram video. They do the usual tweaks to make video pop, like adding vignettes, upping the contrast and playing with color. There is also an image-stabilization feature to even out shaky videos shot on the go.

For now, videos can only be shot from within the Instagram app, and there is no way to upload existing video from your phone's camera roll.

The 15-second limit was chosen after testing different times, said Systrom, who called it the right balance "between not too short that it constrains your creativity" and not so long that you have to wait a while for a file to upload.

In its two and a half years, Instagram has hosted 16 billion photos, Systrom said. Users post 1 billion likes a day, and 130 million people use the service each month, he said.

Systrom built up to the announcement with some flowery language about the significance of the new product.

"It's a powerful way to learn about new concepts, ideas and causes that move the world forward in a significant way," he said. "It's our collective belief that the world is better off collected and shared permanently."

Not to be outdone, Vine seems to be readying some new features itself. The app's co-founders posted several Vines Wednesday that suggest users will soon have the ability to save drafts, splice bits of multiple Vines together and browse content based on categories and genres.

The video-sharing news is the latest step in Facebook's quest to conquer mobile devices. The company has worked hard to increase revenue from mobile ads, which now make up 30% of the company's ad revenue.

Will you be trying out Instagram's video feature? Share your creation with CNN iReport by shooting a 15-second video on Instagram showing what the first day of summer looks like near you on June 21, and tag it #cnnireport. We'll showcase some of the best, most creative responses on CNN.com later that day.

[readon1 url="http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/20/tech/social-media/instagram-video/index.html"]Source:www.cnn.com[/readon1]

James Gandolfini, the gifted and charismatic actor who, with The Sopranos creator and showrunner David Chase, developed the most nuanced, detailed and arguably fascinating television character of all time in the form of mob boss Tony Soprano, has died of a heart attack in Italy.

The actor was reportedly in Sicily to attend the 59th Taormina Film Festival and planned to collaborate with Italian director Gabriele Muccino.

Details of his death are scant at the moment, but a source told the New York Daily News that Gandolfini died following a “massive” heart attack.

While Gandolfini became most famous for his three-time Emmy-winning portrayal of Tony Soprano—a mob boss/ family man with deeply-rooted psychological problems, whose strange journey through middle age and the death of the American Century became a dark and DeLillo-esque metaphor for modern American life—the New Jersey native had starred in several memorable roles throughout his career, frequently portraying emotionally complicated heavies in films like True Romance, Get Shorty, The Mexican, The Man Who Wasn’t There, In the Loop, Killing Them Softly and Not Fade Away.

A press-and spotlight-averse man, Gandolfini quietly amassed an incredible career of roles, with Tony Soprano, for better and worse (it’s hard to see him as anything else), looming as the dark star at the center of his character universe. His final role will be in the 2014 film, Animal Rescue.

Gandolfini is survived by his second wife, Deborah Lin, and two children.

Festival organizers Mario Sesti and Tiziana Rocca said instead they would organize a tribute "to celebrate his great achievement and talent."

They said they had heard from Gandolfini a few hours before he died and "he was very happy to receive this award and be able to travel to Italy."

The U.S. Embassy in Rome, which said it had only learned about the death from the media, said it would be available to provide a death certificate and help prepare the body for return to the United States. The embassy said it can often take between four and seven days to arrange for it to be sent outside of Italy.

The embassy spokesman declined further comment, directing inquiries to the family.

[readon1 url="http://screencrave.com/2013-06-19/james-gandolfini-dies-heart-attack-51"]Source:wonderwall.msn.com[/readon1]

A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence with a conviction of the offence became law today.

Bill C-309, a private member's bill introduced by Conservative MP Blake Richards in 2011, passed third reading in the Senate on May 23 and was proclaimed law during a royal assent ceremony in the Senate this afternoon.

Richards, MP for Wild Rose, Alta., said the bill is meant to give police an added tool to prevent lawful protests from becoming violent riots, and that it will help police identify people who engage in vandalism or other illegal acts. The bill is something that police, municipal authorities and businesses hit hard by riots in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and other cities in recent years, were asking for, according to Richards.

"The provisions of my bill are effective immediately, which means police officers across Canada now have access to these tools to protect the public from masked rioters," Richards said in a statement being released today.

The bill creates a new Criminal Code offence that makes it illegal to wear a mask or otherwise conceal your identity during a riot or unlawful assembly. Exceptions can be made if someone can prove they have a "lawful excuse" for covering their face such as religious or medical reasons.

The bill originally proposed a penalty of up to five years, but the House of Commons justice committee amended it and doubled the penalty to up to 10 years in prison for committing the offence.

Richards noted in his statement how rare it is for a private member's bill to become law and said that its final passage is the culmination of two years of work and a lot of consultation with police and business owners.

Bill comes into force immediately upon royal assent

"We can all rest easier tonight knowing our communities have been made safer with its passage," said Richards.

The bill didn't have unanimous support, and was opposed by some who are concerned about its effect on freedom of expression and privacy. Critics said the measures are unnecessary because the Criminal Code already includes a section about wearing disguises while committing a crime.

Civil liberties advocates argued the measures could create a chilling effect on free speech and that peaceful protesters can unintentionally find themselves involved in an unlawful assembly. They also noted that there are legitimate reasons for wearing masks at protests; some may be worried about reprisals at work, for example, if sighted at a political protest.

"Any law that infringes upon civil liberties needs to be held to a test of absolute necessity, and I don't think that test has been met in this instance," said Michael Byers, a political scientist at the University of British Columbia and a board member of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, in an interview. Byers testified at the Commons justice committee that studied the bill.

Byers said freedom of expression was not properly factored into the design of the bill and that its measures could deter acts of political expression.

Richards argues that his bill will actually help protect the legitimate right to protest because it will help prevent illegitimate protesters from infiltrating a peaceful event and causing trouble. He also said police told him the existing Criminal Code provision about disguises is more geared toward armed robbery offences and is difficult to apply in protest situations.

In a recent interview, Richards said there is a lot of misunderstanding about his bill and that there will always be people who disagree with it.

He said he is proud to have identified a problem and created a solution. The bill becomes law when it receives royal assent. 

[readon1 url="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/06/19/pol-mask-bill-royal-assent.html"]Source:www.cbc.ca[/readon1]