FEATURES
Featurettes Page
..............................................................................................................
You can find interesting infomation about featured topics right here
-This page is updated as often as possible
-Time Based stories will be updated weekly eg.News Stories
Tens of Thousands Bid Goodbye to Milosevic
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC , 03.18.2006, 11:41 AM
Greeted with flowers and cheers, Slobodan Milosevic's body arrived in his hometown for burial Saturday after a farewell ceremony in Belgrade that drew at least 80,000 admirers in a strong show of Serb nationalism.
The coffin of the former Serbian leader, who died a week ago while on U.N. trial for some of Europe's worst atrocities since World War II, was displayed outside city hall in this gritty industrial town before burial in the backyard of the family estate.
As a brass band played a funeral march, some 15,000 people lined the main street into Pozarevac, cheering and waving as the hearse passed slowly. Many threw red roses, the symbol of Milosevic's Socialist Party.
In Pozarevac, Milosevic was to be buried beneath a backyard linden tree where he first kissed his wife, Mirjana Markovic, who is living in Russia in self-imposed exile. She reportedly has said she wants to be buried with him when she dies.
Private BK television showed the empty grave in the middle of a square of crimson carpet framed by brass stands holding red velvet ropes.
Security was tight in Pozarevac, with police on heightened alert and extra ambulances parked around town. A curtain of red roses hung over the entrance to the estate.
Socialist organizers said no member of the immediate family would attend the burial. Milosevic's wife faces Serbian charges of abuse of power during his 13-year reign.
Authorities refused to approve an official ceremony for Milosevic, who presided over four Balkan wars in the 1990s that took 250,000 lives during the breakup of Yugoslavia. But Saturday's farewell organized by his Socialist Party had many of the trappings of a state funeral.
In Belgrade, the capital, an estimated 80,000 people - many of them bused to Belgrade from Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo - packed a square in front of the federal parliament building.
Many wept uncontrollably and chanted "Slobo! Slobo!" at the sight of the flag-draped coffin on a bier atop a red-carpeted stage. Some clutched photographs of Milosevic or the U.N. war crimes tribunal's two most-wanted fugitives: Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic.
"Slobo is a hero and heroes never die," read a banner held aloft by the crowd. "Tribunal kills," said another.
Top ultranationalist leaders and at least five retired former Yugoslav army generals wearing parade uniforms stood by the stage. Serbian television, which broadcast the ceremony live, reported that an elderly mourner died of a heart attack during the two-hour ceremony.
"We are bidding farewell to the best one among us, fully conscious of his greatness," Socialist deputy president Milorad Vucelic said.
"Our Serbia will rise like a phoenix from the ashes - it will forever be proud of you and your legacy," Vojislav Seselj, a Serbian ultranationalist leader in custody at The Hague, said in a letter read by Radical Party official Aleksandar Vucic.
"I promise to carry on the battle against The Hague criminals with the same fervor you had. May God grant you blessings of paradise. May the sacred Serb soil grant you eternal peace."
But some drivers passing by the square honked their horns and made obscene gestures at the Milosevic supporters, most of whom appeared to be middle-aged.
Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general and longtime Milosevic supporter now on Saddam Hussein's defense team, also spoke to the crowd.
"History will prove that Slobodan Milosevic was right," Clark said, drawing cheers in a eulogy that savaged the West for its "determination to dismember Yugoslavia."
"It is critically important to remember his struggle to preserve Yugoslavia," Clark told The Associated Press. "He became president at a time of greatest crisis. Everyone knew his health was failing but he was not granted proper medical care (during his captivity). Amid the struggle, his heart gave up."
Later Saturday, about 2,000 anti-Milosevic activists gathered at another central Belgrade square. The crowd of mostly young people waved red balloons, whistled, danced and shouted: "He is gone!"
They also burned Milosevic's picture and scuffled briefly with a dozen Karadzic supporters trying to disrupt the gathering.
Milosevic died a week ago in his room in a detention center near the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, which was trying him on 66 counts of war crimes, including genocide. He was the first head of state to be indicted for such crimes.
Milosevic's Socialists and ultranationalists, ousted from power with Milosevic in 2000, hope to make political gains from their leader's death.
An estimated 70,000 people viewed the coffin in its two days of public display at Belgrade's Museum of Revolution, but the turnout was much lower than organizers' predictions of hundreds of thousands and nowhere near the huge crowds Milosevic commanded in his heyday.
Milosevic's lawyers alleged he was poisoned, but the tribunal said Friday an autopsy and toxicology tests showed there were no medicines in the body in quantities high enough to kill him.
Associated Press reporters Aleksandar Vasovic, Katarina Kratovac, Jovana Gec and William J. Kole in Belgrade contributed to this report.
Top Stories
News > Console games> Games hardware
Microsoft starts music video downloads via Xbox360
Posted by Stuart Miles
17 March 2006 - Microsoft has announced an agreement with Epic Records to offer exclusive artist content and high-definition music video downloads free for all Xbox360 gamers for a year.
The move clearly shows that Microsoft is hoping to use the games console and more than just a gaming machine and could be the company’s backdoor entry into the music video and more importantly movie download business.
In the agreement, over the next year, Xbox360 and Epic Records will showcase 12 up-and-coming artists through the Artist of the Month (AOM) program via the Xbox Live service.
Kicking off the AOM program on Xbox Live is British singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield.
“Our goal has always been to make Xbox Live a cutting-edge entertainment experience”, said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “This agreement with Epic Records offers our members exclusive artistic content directly from the source. With Artist of the Month we will be providing exactly what music-loving gamers want: brand-new, exclusive music videos that can be downloaded quickly, easily and free of charge.”
Each month Microsoft and Epic will announce the new Artist of the Month along with exclusive benefits for Xbox360 gamers around the world.
Xbox Live members will be able to download featured music videos from Xbox Live Marketplace at no additional charge and watch exclusive interviews downloaded directly to their Xbox360 system.
Complete Oscar list
Here is a complete list of the winners of the 78th Academy Awards, which were presented Sunday evening at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.
Performance by an actor in a supporting role-- George Clooney, "Syriana."
Achievement in visual effects-- "King Kong."
Best animated feature-- "Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit."
Best live action short film-- "Six Shooter."
Best animated short film-- "The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation."
Achievement in costume design--"Memoirs of a Geisha," Colleen Atwood.
Achievement in Makeup-- "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,"Howard Berger and Tami Lane.
Best performance by an actress in a supporting role-- Rachel Weisz, "The Constant Gardener."
Best documentary short subject-- "A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin."
Best documentary feature-- "March of the Penguins."
Achievement in art direction-- "Memoirs of a Geisha,"
Achievement in music written for motion pictures-- "Brokeback Mountain," Gustavo Santaolalla.
Achievement in sound mixing-- "King Kong."
Achievement in music written for motion pictures-- "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from "Hustle & Flow."
Achievement in sound editing-- "King Kong."
Best foreign language film-- "Tsotsi."
Achievement in film editing-- "Crash."
Best performance by an actor in a leading role-- Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Capote."
Achievement in cinematography-- "Memoirs of a Geisha."
Best performance by an actress in a leading role-- Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line."
Adapted sreenplay-- "Brokeback Mountain."
Original screenplay-- "Crash."
Achievement in directing-- Ang Lee, "Brokeback Mountain."
Best Picture-- "Crash."
Source: Xinhua