Archive
Reuters blog archive
from Photographers Blog:
My weekend at the Big Sandy Shoot
Near Wikieup, northern Arizona
By Joshua Lott
Sandwiched between the black jack tables of Las Vegas and the knuckle balls of spring training baseball in the Phoenix metropolitan area, machine guns were fired day and night during the Big Sandy Shoot in the desert of northern Arizona near the town of Wikieup.
The three day event attracted hundreds of spectators and shooters from around the country. Some traveled as far as Washington and Mississippi to fire their weapons along a mountain range set up with zombie targets, trash cans and buckets and barrels filled with aluminum oxide mixed with ammonium nitrate to create explosions upon impact.
Several styles of the vintage Browning machine guns used during World War II and the Korean War along with a replica gold 1877 Bulldog Gatling Gun received much attention from the crowd. A family from Utah soaked up some fun cruising around in a 1953 Willys Jeep with a Browning .30 caliber machine gun positioned in the center console.
During the second day, a black whale prop filled with explosives was staged in the center of the target field, where shooters took aim at the three-dimensional figure, blowing it up and kicking dust several feet into the air.
from The Edgy Optimist:
I think we’re turning Japanese, I really hope so
Why the U.S. would be lucky to become Japan.
By Zachary Karabell
Over the past few years, it’s become ever more common to hear comparisons between the United States and Japan. They are not favorable. They come in the form of dark warnings that the current policies of the United States will lead to a fate similar to Japan’s over the past 20 years: stagnant growth with no end in site.
Let’s just say for the moment that the United States is becoming Japan – a nation of little to no economic growth, high public debt and a broken financial system. How bad is that? Is becoming Japan really a worst-case scenario?
from Photographers Blog:
Nude without the nudity
WARNING: SOME IMAGES CONTAIN NUDITY
San Francisco, California
By Beck Diefenbach
Photographing the nude body in America presents many challenges. So when Reuters editor Mike Fiala asked me to shoot the latest chapter in the public nudity ban in San Francisco, I knew I would have a lot of factors to consider.
GALLERY: SAN FRANCISCO'S NO TO NUDE
Different parts of the world react differently to nudity in the news. In America, it is often considered taboo to print a photo of frontal nudity even if it is considered newsworthy.
from Photographers Blog:
Trailer park worth $30 million
By Lucy Nicholson
Too often in America, being old means being lonely, isolated and depressed.
At Village Trailer Park, a leafy oasis surrounded by busy commercial streets about two miles from Santa Monica’s famous beach, elderly residents are fighting to preserve a different way of life.
GALLERY: LIFE IN A TRAILER PARK
Owner Marc Luzzatto wants to relocate around 50 residents from the quirky trailer park to make way for nearly 500 residences, office space, stores, cafes and yoga studios, close to where a light rail line is being built to connect downtown Los Angeles to the ocean.
from Full Focus:
Homeless America
As a homeless child, Aeisha joined ranks with 1.6 million children living in shelters, motels, doubled up with other families or living on the streets of the United States last year, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. That marked a 38 percent jump in child homelessness since 2007. To put a face to the breadth and depth of the homeless problem, a team of Reuters journalists fanned out across the country in the past week, for interviews with parents and children who are down on their luck.
from FaithWorld:
Obama meets Dalai Lama at White House, China sees U.S. interference
(The Dalai Lama arrives to deliver A Talk for World Peace on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol in Washington July 9, 2011/Yuri Gripas)
China accused the United States on Sunday of "grossly" interfering in its internal affairs and seriously damaging relations after President Barack Obama met exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House. Obama met the Nobel Prize laureate for 45 minutes, praising him for embracing non-violence while reiterating that the United States did not support independence for Tibet.
from FaithWorld:
Hillary Clinton seeks to smooth Islamic defamation row with OIC
(U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (L) in Istanbul July 15, 2011/Murad Sezer)
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton agreed with a major global Islamic organization on Friday to pursue new ways of resolving debates over religion without resorting to legal steps against defamation. Clinton met Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the head of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), in Istanbul to help set up new international mechanisms both protect free speech and combat religious discrimination around the world.
from FaithWorld:
“The Ledge” equals “God for Dummies” – film review
(Actor Charlie Hunnam poses for a portrait while promoting the movie "The Ledge" during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah January 22, 2011/Mario Anzuoni )
Can't wait until Thanksgiving dinner to witness a pointless conversation between a pompous fundamentalist Christian and a sneering atheist? Then "The Ledge" is the movie for you.
from Reuters Investigates:
Intrigue in China’s U.S. Treasury buying
A Reuters exclusive today describes a method China used recently to hide some of its U.S. Treasury purchases - "US caught China buying more Treasuries than disclosed."
Treasury officials said they were simply modernizing outdated procedures two years ago when they revamped the rules for participating in government bond auctions.
from FaithWorld:
U.S. shifts to closer contact with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood
(U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a news conference in Budapest June 30, 2011/Bernadett Szabo)
The United States will resume limited contacts with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton confirmed on Thursday, saying it was in Washington's interests to deal with parties committed to non-violent politics. While Clinton portrayed the administration's decision as a continuation of an earlier policy, it reflects a subtle shift in that U.S. officials will be able to deal directly with officials of the Islamist movement who are not members of parliament.
