Culture

Vassar Clements, age 77, a legendary fiddle player who took bluegrass music from an obscure cultural art form to a mainstream influence, and who played on over 2000 albums, passed away at his Goodlettsville, Tennessee home August 16th 2005 at 8:35 am Nashville time (CST) from lung cancer which had metastasized to his liver and brain. Mr. Clements taught himself to play the fiddle at age 7, and though he had no formal training was recognized as one of the world's most versatile fiddle players and was considered a virtuoso. The first song he le

The current International Space Station commander, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev has set a new record of a total of 748 days spent in orbit – almost 2 years, as of Tuesday August 16th, 2005. This outstrips the record set by Sergei Avdeyev's missions on Mir station. Being in space presents many health concerns – both psychological and physiological difficulties, such as bone loss and radiation exposure. Krikalev's longterm experience of life in space could help to shed light on what physical and mental factors will be needed for future lon

It has been confirmed by a British consulate spokeswoman in Iraq that an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack on a British consulate convoy took place at 09:30 am local time. The attack happened on the outskirts of Basra and is reported to have killed two British security contractors and wounded two Iraqi civilians. The two British contractors were killed in the first blast that took place in close proximity to the vehicle they were in. According to the BBC World Affairs correspondent John Simpson, two Iraqi children were injured after a

Mohammed Bouyeri, a radical Islamist who was a member of the Hofstad Network, was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Amsterdam for the killing of the controversial filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November 2004. Van Gogh was ambushed on an Amsterdam street and shot repeatedly in the chest before Bouyeri stabbed him and slit his throat. The judgment said that Bouyeri showed "complete disregard for human life" and butchered Van Gogh "mercilessly". Bouyeri, a 27 year who holds joint Dutch-Moroccan citizenship, claimed he acted on behalf of Isla

Long John Baldry, English-born blues legend, passed away at the Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Thursday evening after fighting a severe chest infection for the past four months. Baldry was considered an innovator and inspiration in blues music in the 1950s and 60s and is credited with inspiring other music legends such as Elton John, Rod Stewart, Eric Clapton, and The Rolling Stones. Baldry was born in East Haddon, England, 1941-01-12 and grew to the imposing height of 6 feet 7 inches (2 metres) which gave him his n

The weather forecast on Wednesday 27th July was poor which was unfortunate for Ross-on-Wye citizens, many of whom were dressed in historical costumes to greet the judges for the Heart of England in Bloom visit. Friends faithfully turned up - women in their Quaker grey and white bonnets, and the Meeting House and burial ground were a hive of activity throughout the day. We welcomed Nelson and his lady, the Town Crier and John Kyrle, a well-known local benefactor from the 16th century as well as representatives from the Elizabethan, Victorian an

Oma Bakri Mohammed, a controversial Muslim cleric living in Britain under political asylum since 1985, has said he does not believe the July 7th London bombers were Muslims. He told BBC News that there was no evidence the four young Muslim men filmed at a station prior to the attacks were responsible for the bombs. He also condemned "any killing of innocent people here and abroad" However he said he would not co-operate with police in the search for the bombers and other Muslim extremists, or even when he knew of an imminent terrorist attack

James Montgomery Doohan, the Canadian actor best known for playing the role of Star Trek'''s "Scotty" the engineer died Wednesday of pneumonia after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 85 years old. Now, Doohan's family is hoping to beam him up to the "Final Frontier" that Scotty loved so dearly. The actor had told relatives he wanted his ashes blasted into outer space, as was done for "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry. "He'll be there with his buddy, which is wonderful," said Doohan's agent and longtime friend, Steve Stevens. A

The biggest music festival in South Eastern Europe, Exit Festival, will start tomorrow. The festival is organized on Petrovaradin fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro, and will last from July 7 to July 10. This will be the fifth annual Exit festival. The festival includes 21 stages, featuring a diverse range of music, from classical to techno. The program is scheduled to last from 6 pm to 8 am every night, with both domestic and foreign musicians. It is expected that tens of thousands of people, mostly from ex Yugoslavian republics, wi

The BBC, who broadcast the Live 8 event throughout Saturday and Sunday, has received hundreds of complaints regarding "swearing outbursts". Madonna and Snoop Dogg are among those who used "bad language" before the 9:00PM watershed. Following last year's Super Bowl, where U.S. broadcasting networks were criticised for not forecasting Janet Jackson's bodily exposure, the BBC pledged to incorporate a time delay of several seconds in certain live broadcasts in order to provide a level of censorship to potentially violent/unsuitable scenes. The

Massive music concerts took place around the planet under the Live 8 banner in an effort to put pressure on the leaders of the eight richest countries in the world to end global poverty. All concerts were timed to take place between noon and 10pm local time, with over a million people expected to attend concerts in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, Canada, South Africa and Russia. The events were broadcast to a potential audience of five and a half billion people world-wide. The largest concert was in the US in Philadelphia wher

The head of the World Food Programme, James Morris, has told the United Nations Security Council that Africa is facing a food crisis, with one in three people there malnourished. Zimbabwe is one country that Morris is particularly concerned about at the moment. “It does not matter whether that instability is caused by civil conflict, drought, AIDS, poor governance or any combination of those factors-hunger almost always comes with it,” said Morris. “The impact of rural-urban migration on employment in Africa has been precisely the opposite