Amazing Pictures Transform Artist into “Disappearing Woman”

By Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger | At Home – Wed, Jan 25, 2012 4:59 PM EST

http://shine.yahoo.com/at-home/amazing-pictures-transform-artist-8220-disappearing-woman-8221-175900745.html

Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Nocturne, 2009

Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Paradise Hands, 2011

Siren in the Sea of Roses, 2011

Tutti Frutti, 2009     Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Meditative Mermaid, 2011  Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Transition, 2011       Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Chrysanthemum, 2009       Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Spirit of the East, 2008   Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Rhythmic Garland, 2009      Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Art Nouveau, 2009        Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Flow, 2010         Photo by: Cecilia Parades

Artist Cecilia Parades’s work is about exploring the meaning of origins and boundaries. “I ‘transform’ myself into elements of nature, my surroundings, landscapes, and other images that form the world around me,” Parades told Yahoo! Shine. “I’m trying to tell a story about relations with space and location.”

Related: How a Photographer Captures the Joyful Spirit of Kids With Special Needs

Parades was born in Lima, Peru, but has lived outside of her home country for 35 years. Much of her career has centered on investigating themes of migration, adaptation, and relocation. She says her work is “also about longing.” Parades uses body paint, make up, and costumes to achieve her remarkable transformations.

Unlike Chinese artist Liu Bolin (“The Invisible Man”), who has assistants paint him to completely vanish into his surroundings, Parades offers viewers a visual clue such as an open eye or a lock of hair to express the paradox of being an individual who is also part of a larger cosmos.

Photos courtesy of the Diana Lowenstein Gallery

Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी) in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra,India are 29 rock-cut cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE. The caves include paintings and sculptures considered to be masterpieces of both Buddhist religious art (which depict the Jataka tales) as well as frescos which are reminiscent of the Sigiriyapaintings in Sri Lanka.The caves were built in two phases starting around 200 BCE, with the second group of caves built around 600 CE.

Since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, near Jalgaon, just outside the village of Ajinṭhā(20°31′56″N 75°44′44″E). Caves are only about 59 kilometers from Jalgaon Railway station (on Delhi – Mumbai, Rail line of the Central railways, India); and 104 kilometers from Aurangabad (from Ellora Caves 100 Kilometers).

Ajanta Caves *
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Country	India
Type	Cultural 1
Criteria	i, ii, iii, vi
Reference	242
Region **	Asia-Pacific
Coordinates	20°33′09″N 75°42′02″ECoordinates: 20°33′09″N 75°42′02″E
Inscription history
Inscription	1983 (7th Session)
Location of Ajanta Caves in India
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List ** Region as classified by UNESCO

First period

According to Spink (2006), the first phase was the construction of Hinayana Buddhistsanctuaries (known as chaytia-grihas) built during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE – c. 220 CE) in the canyons of the Waghora River. The caves 9, 10, 12 and 15A were constructed during this period. Murals preserved from this time belong to the oldest monuments of painted art in India.

Second period

Ajanta Caves, map

Scholars disagree about the date of the Ajanta Caves’ second period. For a time it was thought that the work was done over a long period from the fourth to the 7th century AD, but recently long-time researcher Walter M. Spink declared that most of the work took place over short time period, from 460 to 480 CE, during the reign of Emperor Harishena of theVakataka dynasty. Some 20 cave temples were simultaneously created, for the most part viharas: monasteries with a sanctuary in the structure’s rear centre. Each of cave temples seem to be patronised by influential authority, numerous best available artists have been involved in the work with fruitful rivalry between the neighbouring construction sites.

According to Spink, the Ajanta Caves appear to have been abandoned shortly after the fall of Harishena c. 480 CE. Since then, these temples have been abandoned and gradually forgotten. During the intervening centuries, the jungle grew back and the caves were hidden, unvisited and undisturbed.

Rediscovery by Europeans

On 28 April 1819, a British officer for the Madras Presidency, John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tiger, accidentally discovered the entrance to one of the cave temples (Cave No. 10) deep within the tangled undergrowth. Exploring that first cave, long since a home to nothing more than birds and bats and a lair for other, larger, animals, Captain Smith scratched his name in on one of the pillars. Still faintly visible, it records his name and the date, April 1819. Since he stood on a five foot high pile of rubble collected over the years, the inscription is well above the eye-level gaze of an adult. Shortly after this discovery, the Ajanta Caves became renowned for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, historic artwork, and long-forgotten history.

Cave One

Cave 1

The first cave was built on the eastern end of the horse-shoe shaped scarp. According to Spink, it is one of the latest caves to have begun on site and brought to near-completion in the Vākāţaka phase.Although there is no epigraphic evidence, it has been proposed that the Vākāţaka kingHarisena may have been the benefactor of this better-preserved cave. A dominant reason for this is that Harisena was not involved initially in patronizing Ajanta.

Painting of  Vajrapani

This cave has one of the most elaborate carvings on its facade with relief sculptures on entablature and ridges. There are scenes carved from the life of the Buddha as well as a number of decorative motifs. A two pillared portico, visible in the 19th-century photographs, has since perished. The cave has a front-court with cells fronted by pillared vestibules on either side. These have a high plinth level. The cave has a porch with simple cells on both ends. The absence of pillared vestibules on the ends suggest that the porch was not excavated in the latest phase of Ajanta when pillared vestibules had become a necessity and norm. Most areas of the porch were once covered with murals, of which many fragments remain. There are three doorways: a central doorway and two side doorways. Two square windows were carved between the doorways to brighten the interiors.

Painting of Padmapani

Each wall of the hall inside is nearly 40 feet (12 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) high. Twelve pillars make a square colonnade inside supporting the ceiling, and creating spacious aisles along the walls. There is a shrine carved on the rear wall to house an impressive seated image of the Buddha, his hands being in the dharmachakrapravartana mudra. There are four cells on each of the left, rear, and the right walls. The walls are covered with paintings in a fair state of preservation. The scenes depicted are mostly didactic, devotional, and ornamental. The themes are from the Jataka stories (the stories of the Buddha’s former existences as Bodhisattva), the life of the Gautama Buddha, and those of his veneration.

Cave Two

Painting, cave no. 2.

Cave 2, adjacent to Cave 1, is known for the paintings that have been preserved on its walls, ceilings, and pillars. It looks similar to Cave 1 and is in a better state of preservation.

The facade

Cave 2 has a porch quite different from Cave one. Even the facade carvings seem to be different. The cave is supported by robust pillars, ornamented with designs. The size and ground plan have many things in common with the first cave.

The porch

The front porch consists of cells supported by pillared vestibules on both ends. The cells on the previously “wasted areas” were needed to meet the greater housing requirements in later years. Porch-end cells became a trend in all later Vakataka excavations. The simple single cells on porch-ends were converted into CPVs or were planned to provide more room, symmetry, and beauty.

The paintings on the ceilings and walls of this porch have been widely published. They depict the Jataka tales that are stories of the Buddha’s life in former existences as Bodhisattva. The porch’s rear wall has a doorway in the center, which allows entrance to the hall. On either side of the door is a square-shaped window to brighten the interior.

The hall

The hall has four colonnades which are supporting the ceiling and surrounding a square in the center of the hall. Each arm or colonnade of the square is parallel to the respective walls of the hall, making an aisle in between. The colonnades have rock-beams above and below them. The capitals are carved and painted with various decorative themes that include ornamental, human, animal, vegetative, and semi-divine forms.

The paintings

Lord buddha in preaching pose flanked by Bodhisattvas, Cave 4, Ajanta

Paintings appear on almost every surface of the cave except for the floor. At various places the art work has become eroded due to decay and human interference. Therefore, many areas of the painted walls, ceilings, and pillars are fragmentary. The painted narratives of the Jataka tales are depicted only on the walls, which demanded the special attention of the devotee. They are didactic in nature, meant to inform the community about the Buddha’s teachings and life through successive rebirths. Their placement on the walls required the devotee to walk through the aisles and ‘read’ the narratives depicted in various episodes. The narrative episodes are depicted one after another although not in a linear order. Their identification has been a core area of research since the site’s rediscovery in 1819. Dieter Schlingloff’s identifications have updated our knowledge on the subject.

Entrance of cave no. 9.

Some believe that the art work has erroneously been alluded to as “fresco“, rather than mural, and assert that the technique and process used to produce this kind of artwork is unlike any other artwork found in the art history of other civilizations, including within the history of South Asian art.

Cave Four

http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/South%20India/Ajanta/AjantaCaves65.jpg

The Archeological Survey of India board outside the caves gives the following detail about cave 4 : “This is the largest monastery planned on a grandiose scale but was never finished.An inscription on the pedestal of the buddha’s image mentions that it was a gift from a person named Mathura and paleographically belongs to 6 th century A.D. It consists of a verandah , a hypostylar hall, sanctum with an antechamber and a series of unfinished cells.The sanctum houses a colossal image of Lord buddha in preaching pose flanked byBodhisattvas and celestial nymphs hovering above.The rear wall of the verandah contains the panel of Litany of Avalokiteśvara“

Antechamber ceiling

Cave 4 sculptures

Cave 4 tempera

Scenes form Jataka tales

Fragment of a painting

Dark Buddha

Miracle of Sarasvati

Buddha in padmasana

Buddha’s attendants

Cave 7 Miracle of Sarasvati

Cave 9

Cave 10 stupa

Cave 10 pillar and wall

Cave 10 tempera

See more Images on http://www.shunya.net/Pictures/South%20India/Ajanta/Ajanta.htm

By Robert T. Gonzalez

Newt Gingrich is right: We need a permanent Moonbase

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has promised us a permanent Moon base by 2020. Many people have been calling Newt’s vow a publicity stunt, while others have chimed in by attacking the idea of a lunar base in and of itself, with assertions like “real scientists know [a Moon base] is fantasy.”

We won’t speak to Newt’s political maneuverings, but we’re sure as hell not going to sit idly by while people bash the feasibility or scientific potential of a lunar settlement. In fact, we’ve got 185 reasons we should set a course straight away.

The Moon is a Stepping Stone to Mars

NASA has expressed that all technologies developed for getting us to the Moon and keeping us there should, whenever possible, “be designed with maximum extensibility to Mars.”

Setting up a base on the Moon is in many ways one step removed from sending an astronaut to the Red Planet — and doing that puts us one step closer to us getting off this rock and out into our galaxy and beyond. One hundred, five-hundred, a thousand years from now, when our descendants look back on our first days of space travel, they’ll remember that putting a permanent base on the Moon was the first, indispensable step.

An Off-World Energy Source

We spoke to astrophysicist Michael Shara — curator of the astrophysics department at the American Museum of Natural History — about the scientific potential of a permanent Moon base, and one of the first things to come up was lunar resource utilization.

“Lunar geology is in its infancy,” he explained. “Helium 3 and rare earth element mining would be a major industry.”

What is Helium-3? Remember the stuff they were mining in Duncan Jones’ Moon? That was helium-3 — a non-radioactive isotope of helium with huge potential in nuclear fusion research and alternative energy applications. Yes it really exists, yes it really is rare on Earth, and yes it really could make a one-way-trip to the Moon totally worth it. Not only would it make for a great off-world alternative energy source, it would also provide on-site support for expansion and development on the Moon itself.

Unprecedented Imaging Capabilities

Have you heard about liquid mirror telescopes? They’re elegant in their simplicity, economically affordable to construct, and harness incredible imaging potential. “It’s so simple,”explains Ermanno F. Borra, a physics professor at the Optics Laboratory of Laval University inQuebec,Canada. “Isaac Newton knew that any liquid, if put into a shallow container and set spinning, naturally assumes a parabolic shape-the same shape needed by a telescope mirror to bring starlight to a focus.”

And to top it off, the Moon’s temperatures and open space make it the perfect place to build one. “Huge liquid mirror telescopes, operating in the ultraviolet and infrared range, would have 1000x the light-gathering power of Keck,” Shara told io9. As a point of reference, the Keck Observatory‘s two main telescopes are the second-largest optical telescopes on Earth.

Money

Yes, getting back to the Moon will be expensive. Yes, setting up shop there permanently will be veryexpensive. But you have to think of it as an investment, because the potential for monetary return is huge. Think of the payback you’d see fromspace tourism, alone… then realize that every time a new resource is tapped, every time a new technology is developed, every time a new system is successfully demonstrated, it will be a boon for those who have contributed towards making Man’s presence on the Moon a reality.

New map for what to plant reflects global warming

By SETH BORENSTEIN | Associated Press – Wed, Jan 25,2012

http://news.yahoo.com/map-plant-reflects-global-warming-193939113.html

Map shows the USDA’s new plant zone map

WASHINGTON (AP) — Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century.

It’s the first time since 1990 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has revised the official guide for the nation’s 80 million gardeners, and much has changed. Nearly entire states, such as Ohio, Nebraska and Texas, are in warmer zones.

The new guide, unveiled Wednesday at the National Arboretum, arrives just as many home gardeners are receiving their seed catalogs and dreaming of lush flower beds in the spring.

It reflects a new reality: The coldest day of the year isn’t as cold as it used to be, so some plants and trees can now survive farther north.

“People who grow plants are well aware of the fact that temperatures have gotten more mild throughout the year, particularly in the wintertime,” said Boston University biology professor Richard Primack. “There’s a lot of things you can grow now that you couldn’t grow before.”

He stand the giant fig tree in his suburban Boston yard stands as an example: “People don’t think of figs as a crop you can grow in the Boston area. You can do it now.”

The new guide also uses better weather data and offers more interactive technology. For example, gardeners using the online version can enter their ZIP code and get the exact average coldesttemperature.

Also, for the first time, calculations include more detailed factors such as prevailing winds, the presence of nearby bodies of water, the slope of the land, and the way cities are hotter than suburbs and rural areas.

The map carves up the U.S. into 26 zones based on five-degree temperature increments. The old 1990 map mentions 34 U.S. cities in its key. On the 2012 map, 18 of those, including Honolulu, St. Louis, Des Moines, Iowa, St. Paul, Minn., and even Fairbanks, Alaska, are in newer, warmer zones.

Those differences matter in deciding what to plant.

Photo By Charlie Neibergall

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012 photo, Manager Jerry Holub looks at seed packages on display at the Earl May Nursery and Garden Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The USDA announced Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century. In changing Des Moines, Holub doesn’t think the warmer zone will have much of an impact on gardeners. But he said this may mean local residents can even try passion flowers. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

For example, Des Moines used to be in zone 5a, meaning the lowest temperature on average was between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees. Now it’s 5b, which has a lowest temperature of 10 to 15 degrees below zero. Jerry Holub, manager of a Des Moines plant nursery, said folks there might now be able to safely grow passion flowers.

Griffin, Ga., used to be in zone 7b, where the coldest day would average between 5 and 10 degrees. But the city is now in zone 8a, averaging a coldest day of 10 to 15 degrees. So growing bay laurel becomes possible. It wasn’t recommended on the old map.

“It is great that the federal government is catching up with what the plants themselves have known for years now: The globe is warming and it is greatly influencing plants (and animals),” Stanford University biology professor Terry Root wrote in an email.

The changes come too late to make this year’s seed packets, but they will be in next year’s, said George Ball, chairman and CEO of the seed company W. Atlee Burpee, which puts the maps on packages of perennials, not annuals. But Ball said many of his customers already know what can grow in their own climate and how it has warmed.

“Climate change, which has been in the air for a long time, is not big news to gardeners,” he said.

Mark Kaplan, a New York meteorologist who helped create the 1990 map, said the latest version clearly shows warmer zones migrating north. Other experts agreed.

The 1990 map was based on temperatures from 1974 to 1986, the new map from 1976 to 2005. The nation’s average temperature from 1976 to 2005 was two-thirds of a degree higher than it was during the old time period, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

USDA spokeswoman Kim Kaplan, who was part of the map team, repeatedly tried to distance the new zones on the map from global warming. She said that while much of the country is in warmer zones, the map “is simply not a good instrument” to demonstrate climate change because it is based on just the coldest days of the year.

David W. Wolfe, a professor of plant and soil ecology at Cornell University, said that the USDA is being too cautious and that the map plainly reflects warming.

The revised map “gives us a clear picture of the ‘new normal’ and will be an essential tool for gardeners, farmers and natural resource managers as they begin to cope with rapid climate change,” Wolfe said in an email.

The Arbor Day Foundation issued its own hardiness guide six years ago, and the new government map is very similar, said Woodrow Nelson, a vice president at the plant-loving organization.

“We got a lot of comments that the 1990 map wasn’t accurate anymore,” Nelson said. “I look forward to (the new map). It’s been a long time coming.”

Nelson lives in Lincoln, Neb., where the zone warmed to a 5b. Nelson said he used to be in a “solid 4,” but now he has Japanese maples and Fraser firs in his yard — trees that shouldn’t survive in a zone 4.

Vaughn Speer, an 87-year-old master gardener in Ames, Iowa, said he has seen redbud trees, one of the earliest blooming trees, a little farther north in recent years.

“They always said redbuds don’t go beyond U.S. Highway 30,” he said, “but I’m seeing them near Roland,” 10 miles to the north.

___

AP Writer Michael J. Crumb contributed to this report from Des Moines.

Business Insider: Meet SEAL Team 6, the badasses who rescued Jessica Buchanan last night

Team 6 became front page news following the May 2 raid at Osama bin Laden’s compound. Here, US soldiers from 703rd EOD Company, 2nd Platoon, Team 6, return with their armored vehicles following a controlled detonation of munitions outside Camp Clark in Mandozai district, Khost province, eastern Afghanistan on July 4, 2011.

More Men Than Women Have Oral HPV Infection

By Rachael Rettner | LiveScience.com – 6 hrs ago

About 7 percent of adults and teens in the United States are orally infected with the human papillomavirus, or HPV, a new study says. This represents about 14.9 million people.

More men are affected than women: About 10 percent of men ages 14 to 69 have an oral HPV infection, compared with 3.6 percent of women, the study showed.

Oral HPV infections cause some oropharyngeal cancers, or cancers of the tongue, the tonsils or back of the mouth. People who are infected with the strain HPV 16 are 14 times more likely to develop these cancers compared with those not infected with the virus.

The new findings were “reassuring,” according to study researcher Dr. Maura Gillison, chair of cancer research at The Ohio State University , because they show that while oral infection with the virus is common, cancer cases as a result of these infections are rare. In other words, most infected people don’t get cancer. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be about 40,000 new cases of cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx in 2012.

The findings also show oral HPV infections are, for the most part, sexually transmitted. People who reported engaging in oral sex were twice as likely to have an oral HPV infection as those who did not engage in oral sex. People who had had sex of any kind, including vaginal sex or oral sex, were eight times more likely to have an oral HPV infection than those who had not had sex. Among those who’d had 20 or more sexual partners, one in five had an oral HPV infection.

“Taken together, these data indicate that transmission by casual, nonsexual contact is likely to be unusual,” the researchers wrote in their study.

However, there are clues HPV may also spread by kissing. Oral HPV infections were more common among sexually experienced people who had not engaged in oral sex than among sexually inexperienced individuals, a finding that is “consistent with transmission by other sexually associated contact (eg, deep kissing),” the researchers wrote in their study.

“This study of oral HPV infection is the critical first step toward developing potential oropharyngeal cancer prevention strategies,” Gillison said. “This is clearly important, because HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer is poised to overtake cervical cancer as the leading type of HPV-caused cancers in the U.S.”

More studies are needed to know whether the HPV vaccine effectively prevents oral HPV infections, the researchers said. Currently, the vaccine is recommended to prevent cervical cancer, anal cancer and genital warts.

How common is oral HPV?

Between 1998 and 2004, incidence of new cases of oropharyngeal cancer in the United States more than tripled (from 0.8 cancers per 100,000 people to 2.6 cancers per 100,000 people).

Despite the rise, little was known about the prevalence of oral HPV infection, and the characteristics of those who have it.

In the new study, Gillison and colleagues analyzed data from more than 5,500 men and women in the United States. Participants answered questions about their sexual behavior and substance use. They were also asked to gargle mouthwash for 30 seconds, and cells that were exfoliated into the rinse were analyzed for evidence of HPV infection.

The researchers found HPV in the cells of 6.9 percent of the participants, and HPV 16 in 1 percent.

The infection was most common among those ages 60 to 64 years, (at 11.4 percent), and those ages 30 to 34 (at 7.3 percent).

Physicians should encourage their patients who engage in oral sex to use barrier protection, Dr. Hans P. Schlecht, of the Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, wrote in an editorial accompanying the study.

Smokers and alcohol users also had a high prevalence of HPV. About 20 percent of those who said they smoke 20 or more cigarettes per day had oral HPV infection.

More research

It’s not clear why oral HPV infection was more common among men than women. It could be that HPV is more likely to be transmitted through oral sex on women versus men, the researchers said. Differences in hormone levels between the sexes could also affect the duration of an infection.

Smoking may suppress the immune system, leading to longer infections with the virus, the researchers said.

The researchers noted their findings are based on study participant’s reports of their sexual behavior and smoking, which may not be completely accurate.

Researchers need to follow people over time to better understand the effects of age, gender, sexual behavior and smoking on the incidence and duration of oral HPV infections, the researchers said.

The study will be presented this week at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Phoenix. The study and editorial are published online today (Jan. 26) in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Pass it on: Oral HPV infections affect about 7 percent of adults in teen in the United States, and are more common in men than women.

This story was provided by MyHealhNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow MyHealthNewsDaily staff writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner. Find us onFacebook.

Corruption scandal shakes Vatican as internal letters leaked

By Philip Pullella | Reuters – 6 hrs ago

http://news.yahoo.com/corruption-scandal-shakes-vatican-internal-letters-leaked-160055276.html

Pope Benedict XVI, 84, born Joseph Alosius Ratzinger of Germany. According to an Italian television broadcast on Wednesday, he was personally informed by a senior of Vatican official of nepotism and bid-rigging costing millions of dollars. (Wikimedia commons)

An exterior view of the Vatican Embassy is seen in Washington January 26, 2012. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican was shaken by a corruption scandal Thursday after an Italian television investigation said a former top official had been transferred against his will after complaining about irregularities in awarding contracts.

The show “The Untouchables” on the respected private television network La 7 Wednesday night showed what it said were several letters that Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was then deputy-governor of Vatican City, sent to superiors, including Pope Benedict, in 2011 about the corruption.

The Vatican issued a statement Thursday criticizing the “methods” used in the journalistic investigation. But it confirmed that the letters were authentic by expressing “sadness over the publication of reserved documents.”

As deputy governor of the Vatican City for two years from 2009 to 2011, Vigano was the number two official in a department responsible for maintaining the tiny city-state’s gardens, buildings, streets, museums and other infrastructure.

Vigano, currently the Vatican’s ambassador in Washington, said in the letters that when he took the job in 2009 he discovered a web of corruption, nepotism and cronyism linked to the awarding of contracts to outside companies at inflated prices.

In one letter, Vigano tells the pope of a smear campaign against him (Vigano) by other Vatican officials who wanted him transferred because they were upset that he had taken drastic steps to save the Vatican money by cleaning up its procedures.

A general view of St. Peter square where Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the canonization ceremony in St. Peter square at the Vatican October 12, 2008. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

“Holy Father, my transfer right now would provoke much disorientation and discouragement in those who have believed it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of power that have been rooted in the management of so many departments,” Vigano wrote to the pope on March 27, 2011.

In another letter to the pope on April 4, 2011, Vigano says he discovered the management of some Vatican City investments was entrusted to two funds managed by a committee of Italian bankers “who looked after their own interests more than ours.”

LOSS OF $2.5 MILLION, 550,000 EURO NATIVITY SCENE

Vigano says in the same letter that in one single financial transaction in December, 2009, “they made us lose two and a half million dollars.”

The program interviewed a man it identified as a member of the bankers’ committee who said Vigano had developed a reputation as a “ballbreaker” among companies that had contracts with the Vatican, because of his insistence on transparency and competition.

The man’s face was blurred on the transmission and his voice was distorted in order to conceal his identity.

In one of the letters to the pope, Vigano said Vatican-employed maintenance workers were demoralized because “work was always given to the same companies at costs at least double compared to those charged outside the Vatican.”

For example, when Vigano discovered that the cost of the Vatican’s larger than life nativity scene in St Peter’s Square was 550,000 euros in 2009, he chopped 200,000 euros off the cost for the next Christmas, the program said.

Even though, Vigano’s cost-cutting and transparency campaign helped turned Vatican City’s budget from deficit to surplus during his tenure, in 2011 unsigned articles criticizing him as inefficient appeared in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale.

On March 22, 2011, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone informed Vigano that he was being removed from his position, even though it was to have lasted until 2014.

Five days later he wrote to Bertone complaining that he was left “dumbfounded” by the ouster and because Bertone’s motives for his removal were identical to those published in an anonymous article published against him in Il Giornale that month.

In early April, Vigano went over Bertone’s head again and wrote directly to the pope, telling him that he had worked hard to “eliminate corruption, private interests and dysfunction that are widespread in various departments.”

He also tells the pope in the same letter that “no-one should be surprised about the press campaign against me” because he tried to root out corruption and had made enemies.

Despite his appeals to the pope that a transfer, even if it meant a promotion, “would be a defeat difficult for me to accept,” Vigano was named ambassador to Washington in October of last year after the sudden death of the previous envoy to the United States.

In its statement, the Vatican said the journalistic investigation had treated complicated subjects in a “partial and banal way” and could take steps to defend the “honor of morally upright people” who loyally serve the Church.

The statement said that today’s administration was a continuation of the “correct and transparent management that inspired Monsignor Vigano.”

(Reporting By Philip Pullella)

Somali captors move US hostage after SEAL raid

By ABDI GULED | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago

http://news.yahoo.com/somali-captors-move-us-hostage-seal-raid-170314146.html

Map locates area around the town of Adado, Somalia, where two hostages were rescued during a helicopter raid.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Pirates moved an American hostage at least three times in 24 hours and threatened Thursday to kill him after U.S. Navy SEALs rescued an American and a Dane in a bold, dark-of-night raid that raises questions about whether other Western captives are now in greater danger.

“If they try again, we will all die together,” warned Hassan Abdi, a Somali pirate connected to the gang holding the American, who was kidnapped Saturday in northern Somalia.

“It’s difficult to hold U.S. hostages, because it’s a game of chance: die or get huge money. But we shall stick with our plans and will never release him until we get a ransom,” Abdi said.

U.S. Navy SEALs parachuted into Somalia early Wednesday and hiked to where captors were holding 32-year-old American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, a 60-year-old Dane. A shootout ensued and nine captors were killed. Buchanan, Thisted and the U.S. troops were all unharmed. The two aid workers had been kidnapped by gunmen in October while working on demining projects for the Danish Refugee Council.

This combination photo made from undated images provided by the Danish Refugee Council shows Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, left, and American Jessica Buchanan. U.S. military forces flew into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 and freed the two hostages while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

Buchanan and Thisted were flown to the U.S. Naval Air Base at Sigonella on the Italian island of Sicily to undergo medical screenings and other evaluations before heading home, a U.S. defense official said. Buchanan’s family was meeting her at the base, which is the hub of U.S. Navy air operations in the Mediterranean.

The U.S. government said the raid was prompted by Buchanan’s deteriorating health. An ailing Frenchwoman kidnapped by Somali gunmen died in captivity last year after not having access to her medication.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s rescue, the gang holding the American kidnapped in the northern town of Galkayo have moved him three times, Abdi said.

“Holding hostages in one place is unlikely now because we are the next target,” he told The Associated Press by telephone.

He also expressed concern that the U.S. has pirate informants.

“It wasn’t just a hit-and-run operation, but long planned with the help of insiders among us,” Abdi said, noting that the Americans struck at a time when the pirates were least on their guard.

U.S. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said U.S. officials have been in contact with the family of the latest American kidnapping victim.

“We are also working with our contacts in Kenya and in Somalia to try to get more information,” Nuland told reporters in Washington.

“Obviously we condemn kidnapping of any kind and call for the immediate release of the victims — any victims. We also would note that our travel warning for Somalia does caution U.S. citizens about the risk of travel.”

Other hostages held in Somalia include a British tourist and two Spanish aid workers seized in neighboring Kenya, a French military adviser and 155 sailors of various nationalities hijacked by pirates at sea.

The aid group Doctors Without Borders, known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, employed the two Spanish women. The group said it was pleased that Buchanan and Thisted were freed and was seeking the release of its workers, Montserrat Serra and Blanca Theibaut. It hinted, though, that it views military raids as risky.

“MSF strongly favors the nonviolent resolution of such cases, as the use of force endangers the lives of the hostages and may result in the tragic loss of human lives,” the group said. “We call upon the Somali population, especially the local authorities in control of the areas where the two are held, to do everything in their power to assist in their safe release.”

It’s not always clear what group is holding a captive in Somalia, and hostages have sometimes been sold from one gang to another. Captives can be held for long stretches: Two journalists from Canada and Australia were held for 15 months before being released in 2009, and the French military adviser has been missing for more than two years.

The security community is divided over whether the U.S. raid would make life more difficult for the other captives or whether the killings of the nine captors might make pirates think twice about launching future operations, a Western official in Kenya said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

On Wednesday evening, hours after the U.S. military raid, the gang holding the American hostage started circulating false rumors that they had executed him.

Another security official who has years of experience in the region said it was likely the men holding the American would move him onto a ship with other foreign hostages, because ships were easier to defend and planning rescue operations is more complicated when hostages from other countries are involved.

At least one pirate agreed with his analysis.

“I think land captivity is going to end now. Sea is much safer,” pirate Mohamed Nur said by phone from the coastal town of Hobyo. “Even ships are not very safe, but you can at least hit back and resist.”

Americans have been captured by Somali pirate gangs before. In 2009, the cargo vessel Maersk Alabama was briefly hijacked before pirates took to the lifeboat with the ship’s captain, who was rescued after Navy sharpshooters killed the pirates.

But in a sign that pirates are getting increasingly violent — and perhaps jittery — four Americans onboard a hijacked yacht were killed last February. It’s still unclear why the hostages were shot.

Several senior pirates condemned Wednesday’s U.S. raid, which was authorized by President Barack Obama, and at least one warned that other U.S. hostages might suffer as a result.

“They send hit squads and kill all they want, so there is no way we will care for their (hostages) while they are killing us. They will see the aftereffects and reap the results of their actions,” said Bile Hussein, a Somali pirate commander.

A spokesman for Somalia’s U.N.-backed government said the pirates got what they deserved.

“Pirates have no place in our society,” Abdirahman Omar Osman told the AP. “This is a huge and unforgettable lesson for them.”

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Associated Press writers Jason Straziuso and Katharine Houreld in Nairobi, Kenya, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Katharine Houreld at http://twitter.com/khoureld

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2091458/Jessica-Buchanan-Navy-SEALs-raid-frees-American-hostage-kidnapped-Somalia.html

‘Daddy, I love you, I’m OK’: Father’s emotional phone call with hostage daughter as he says he’s ‘proud’ of U.S. Navy SEALs who carried out daring rescue mission in Somalia

• Jessica Buchanan, 32, was working for aid group clearing mines
• Fellow worker Poul Hagen Thisted, from Denmark, also freed
• Nine pirates killed and five captured in ferocious gun battle
• Navy SEAL Team Six parachuted in and launched raid at dead of night
• Obama congratulates soldiers and Leon Panetta on rescue operation
• School teachers describe Buchanan as ‘very Christian’ and ‘committed’

By MARK DUELL, LEE MORAN and JENNIFER MADISON

Last updated at 6:41 AM on 26th January 2012

His ailing daughter, held captive in Somalia since October, will soon be safely on her way home to the U.S. after a bold, dark-of-night-rescue by Navy SEALs.

John Buchanan had not spoken with his daughter, Jessica, in over 90 days when a team of special operatives parachuted into the pirate encampment and engaged in a fierce gunfight to rescue the 32-year-old aid worker and her Danish colleague, 60-year-old Poul Hagen Thisted this weekend.

Finally, relief set in for the worried father when he picked up the phone and for the first time in over three months heard his daughter’s voice on Tuesday night. ‘She said, “Daddy, I love you, and I’ll be fine. I’m OK.”‘ Mr Buchanan recalled.

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Free: American Jessica Buchanan, left, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, right, were rescued by Navy SEALs

‘It was pretty amazing and incredible that she’s fine and (the SEAL teams) were able to do something and get her,’ he said.

As Chris Francescani reports for CBS News, President Barack Obama called Mr Buchanan within minutes of Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.

Mr Buchanan knew his daughter’s health had been declining, and that it might be a trigger for a rescue mission. But he had no idea what to expect when the phone rang.

Someone had phoned Mr Buchanan from the Situation Room and told him to make sure his phone line was clear for an important call. For 40 minutes, he said, he waited with Jessica’s sister for news of his daughter’s health and whereabouts.

Finally, he told CBS: ‘A guy came on the phone and said “Mr. Buchanan, the next voice you’ll hear will be the President of the United States.” I said “OK.” I’m thinking “this could be some kind of cruel joke.”

‘He said, “John, this is Barack Obama. I’ve got some really good news for you. Your daughter Jessica has been rescued and evacuated by our SEAL team and she’s on her way home.” He said he empathized with me, having two daughters, and said something to the effect of how proud he was that our young people would go help these other people.’

Within minutes, he heard from Jessica.

Giving gratitude to FBI investigators and the special operatives who supported and carried out the mission to save his her, Mr Buchanan said: ‘We’re just extremely grateful to God first, and to the U.S. government. They’ve been great throughout this whole thing – from the first day there were there, supporting us.’

Held captive: Ms Buchanan, left, of Virginia, and Mr Thisted, right, are seen speaking in a hostage video

‘I love my daughter,’ he continued. ‘I’m just thrilled that she’s ok and she’s back. It sounds corny but I really am proud to be an American. We are the greatest country in the world, with the best resources. And I’m grateful to be an American.’

Mr Buchanan spoke out after dramatic details emerged yesterday of how the elite U.S. special forces team responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden, which launched its raid on the pirate base in the middle of the night near Adado, Somali to rescue Jessica Buchanan, of Rosslyn, Virginia, and Poul Hagen Thisted, of Denmark.

Nine Somali pirates were killed and five captured by the SEALs unit responsible for killing Osama Bin Laden,.

The U.S. special forces crept up on the captors – with the overnight guards asleep after chewing on the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening – and had originally intended to detain them alive.

But they changed plans and killed nine of the pirates when the frantic gunfight ensued. The pirates were heavily armed with explosives ‘nearby’, but no U.S. personnel were injured, military officials said.

In an old hostage video seen on TV2 Denmark, Mr Thisted says: ‘As you can see Jessica and myself are safe and are being treated well by the group here in Somalia. It is important that no-one attacks.’

U.S. President Barack Obama said of the operation: ‘This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people.

‘As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts.’

Mission: Two teams of U.S. Navy SEALs rescued the hostages after a gun battle with (file picture)

The mission was carried out by SEAL Team Six – the unit which killed Al Qaeda leader Bin Laden last May in Abbottabad, Pakistan – but the personnel involved this time were different, U.S. officials said.

The two hostages were seized in Galkayo in Galmudug, northern Somalia, where they had been working for the Danish De-mining Group, which clears unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.

A spokesman for the Danish Refugee Council said: ‘We confirm that Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted have been rescued earlier today during an operation in Somalia.

‘The two aid workers from the Danish Refugee Council’s de-mining unit are both unharmed and at a safe location.’ Both are now ‘on their way to be reunited with their families’, the DRC said.

Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal said the poor health of one hostage had led the U.S. to take action and the operation did not necessarily pave the way for further missions.

Sources involved with the hostages said that former teacher Ms Buchanan had been suffering from a possible kidney infection.

Vice President Joe Biden told NBC that it was understood Ms Buchanan’s health ‘was beginning to decline’ and the U.S. ‘wanted to act’.

He had high praise for the special forces. ‘It takes your breath away, their capacity and their bravery,’ he said. ‘These guys and women are amazing.’

The rescue operation took place about 12 miles north of the town of Adow, near the pirate haven of Haradheere, Galmudug’s president Mohamed Ahmed Alim said.

Mr Alim, speaking from Hobyo, another major pirate base north of Haradheere, said he was also negotiating to secure the release of an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

‘About 12 U.S. helicopters are now at Galkayo. We thank the United States,’ he said. ‘Pirates have spoilt the whole region’s peace and ethics. They are mafia.’

The SEALs, with helicopter back-up, had parachuted into the area and made their way to the rescue site on foot.

According to one pirate, who gave his name as Bile Hussein, the SEALs came in very quickly, catching the guards at 2am local time as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening.

Mr Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were missing.

While U.S. and French forces have intervened to rescue pirate hostages at sea before now, attacks on pirate bases are very rare.

The only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa is in neighbouring Djibouti and media reports said the hostages had been flown there.

President Obama was overheard congratulating Defence Secretary Leon Panetta as he entered the House of Representatives chamber to give his annual State of the Union speech.

‘Good job’: President Barack Obama, centre, was overheard congratulating Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, left, as he entered the House of Representatives chamber to give his State of the Union speech on Tuesday

‘Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight,’ President Obama said, apparently referring to the success of the rescue operation. But he did not mention the rescue during his speech.

‘Jessica Buchanan was selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being’

President Barack Obama

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby said although the two hostages were safe by the time President Obama gestured to Mr Panetta, the secretive rescue mission had not yet been completed.

The timing of the operation was a huge bonus for President Obama, who is running for re-election to the White House this year and had already been offering voters a strong national defence record.

But U.S. officials told CBS that the mission was timed around the weather and a new moon, rather than the President’s key State of the Union address.

Phone call: Barack Obama, seen with wife Michelle, called Ms Buchanan’s dad John to say: ‘All Americans have Jessica in our thoughts and prayers, and give thanks that she will soon be reunited with her family’

President Obama called Ms Buchanan’s father John on Tuesday night to tell him: ‘All Americans have Jessica in our thoughts and prayers, and give thanks that she will soon be reunited with her family.’

Mr Panetta said Ms Buchanan and Mr Thisted ‘have been transported to a safe location where we will evaluate their health and make arrangements for them to return home’.

He added: ‘This was a team effort and required close coordination, especially between the Department of Defense and our colleagues in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.’

Mr Panetta visited U.S. troops in Djibouti last month on his way to Afghanistan and Iraq.

It was a stopover that reflected the Obama administration’s growing focus on the militant and piracy threats emanating from Yemen and the eastern edge of Africa.

In Djibouti, the U.S. has a platform to monitor, partly through the use of surveillance drones, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in Yemen and Somalia’s hardline rebel group Al Shabaab.

President Obama said: ‘Jessica Buchanan was selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being.

‘The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice.’

Seen today: President Obama steps off Marine One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Wednesday

Gen. Carter F. Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said the mission was ‘boldly conducted by some of our nation’s most courageous, competent, and committed special operations forces’.

Ms Buchanan lived in neighbouring Kenya before Somalia, and worked at a school in Nairobi called the Rosslyn Academy from 2007-09, dean of students Rob Beyer said.

He described the American as quick to laugh and adventurous. ‘There have been tears on and around the campus today,’ he said. ‘She was well-loved by all her students.’

She graduated from Valley Forge Christian College – a small religious college in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The school head said officials are grateful that their prayers have been answered.

Reverend Don Meyer said Ms Buchanan graduated from there in 2006 and ‘fell in love with Africa’ after doing a student teaching stint in Nairobi. He offered his ‘deep gratitude’ to those who freed her.

Operation: Navy SEALs stormed a pirate haven in Somalia to rescue two hostages (file picture)

‘She fell in love with Africa,’ Rev Meyer said. ‘She could hardly talk about Africa without tears in her eyes. Her life story is a model of what we prepare our students to do. It’s thrilling beyond words.

‘Ever since Jessica was captured, we all as a community have been praying for her safety and for her safe release. The priority is just how grateful we are that she is safe.’

Before Ms Buchanan’s family moved from Ohio years ago, she attended the now-closed Ridgeville Christian School, a preschool-through-12th-grade campus in Springboro, north of Cincinnati.

There, she was a student leader involved in activities and sports, including basketball and volleyball, said retired high school teacher Roy Merrill.

‘An outstanding student,’ the science teacher said. ‘She had a lot of drive to get things done.’ Elementary school teacher Carol Richards said Ms Buchanan and her family were ‘very Christian’.

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