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SOUTHMEAD: Free computer training is available for people aged 19and over at Southmead Development Trust's …

JAZZ HANDS

JAZZ HANDS

Preservation Hall Jazz Band joins TMP on stage

Just days after 2011's Mardi Gras celebrations quiet down, Boise-based dance company Trey Mclntyre Project and the famed New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band will rev the festivities back up. The two performance powerhouses will join forces in an exuberant mix of artistry, energy and visceral spirit on Saturday, March 12, at the Morrison Center.

This collaboration has been in the subconscious making for years. New Orleans is a beloved stomping ground for TMP Artistic Director Trey Mclntyre, who for years enjoyed the city's easily accessible proximity to his dance alma mater, the Houston Ballet. During his …

Lawyer says Khodorkovsky may appeal for early release after presidential change in Russia

A lawyer for the jailed founder of the Yukos oil company said Thursday he he has advised his client to appeal for early release from his Siberian prison now that Vladimir Putin is no longer Russia's president.

Yuri Schmidt said on Ekho Moskvy radio Thursday that tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who turned 45 Thursday, hasn't made up his mind on the issue yet.

Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, was convicted in 2005 of fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to eight years in prison in a case that many critics called Kremlin revenge for his criticism and apparent political ambitions.

Schmidt said Khodorkovsky felt it was useless to lodge such an …

Quick fix is no cure

In yet another day of crisis management, Mel Gibson has now thrownhimself on the mercy of the very people he maligned in his drunkentirade. Many people are stopped while driving under the influence ofalcohol or some other drug; few people respond by launching into anattack on some ethnic or religious group. In this case it's the Jews,in other cases it could be the honkie cop who stopped you or theentire population of African Americans -- hate speech knows nobounds.

The issue, of course, is that Gibson is well within his rights todislike a group of people and to …

Vivid Account of Black Troops in WWI Combat

Vivid Account of Black Troops in WWI Combat The American Foreign Legion: Black Soldiers of the 93d in World War I. Frank E. Roberts. Naval Institute Press. 263 pages; photographs; maps; notes; index; $29.95 (ALiSA member's cost, $23.96).

In this book, Frank E. Roberts provides a chronicle of the experiences of the four black regiments that served with distinction in the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) but were assigned to French divisions throughout their combat service.

America entered World War I at a time when Jim Crow laws and racism permeated the society and politics of the country. Blacks hoped that their participation in the war effort would help tear down the …

Judges rap prosecutor at Khmer Rouge trial

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — An internal debate over the targets of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge genocide tribunal turned into a public dispute Wednesday, when judges ordered a prosecutor to retract his call for further investigations.

The fight at the United Nations-backed tribunal added to mounting fears that prosecutions are being quashed for political reasons.

The two investigating judges, from Germany and Cambodia, on Wednesday ordered British co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley to withdraw a statement he issued last week citing specific crimes that deserved further investigation. They said the statement violated tribunal rules and must be retracted within three days, without specifying …

Stars play cricket for ex-Sri Lanka child soldiers

Stars of Indian cinema and Sri Lankan cricketers will play a celebrity cricket match on Friday to raise funds for reintegrating former child soldiers into their communities.

Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan and Sunil Shetty are set for a celebrity cricket match involving Kumar Sangakkara's Sri Lankan lineup that will be one of the key features of the International Indian Film Awards scheduled to be held this weekend in Colombo.

Part of the proceeds from the match will be donated to "Cricket for Children," an initiative of the Sri Lanka Cricket authority and UNICEF, the U.N. Children's Fund.

Earlier this year, former child soldiers and …