May 22, 2013 ? Until now, little was scientifically known about the human potential to cultivate compassion -- the emotional state of caring for people who are suffering in a way that motivates altruistic behavior.
A new study by researchers at the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that adults can be trained to be more compassionate. The report, published Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, investigates whether training adults in compassion can result in greater altruistic behavior and related changes in neural systems underlying compassion.
"Our fundamental question was, 'Can compassion be trained and learned in adults? Can we become more caring if we practice that mindset?'" says Helen Weng, lead author of the study and a graduate student in clinical psychology. "Our evidence points to yes."
In the study, the investigators trained young adults to engage in compassion meditation, an ancient Buddhist technique to increase caring feelings for people who are suffering. In the meditation, participants envisioned a time when someone has suffered and then practiced wishing that his or her suffering was relieved. They repeated phrases to help them focus on compassion such as, "May you be free from suffering. May you have joy and ease."
Participants practiced with different categories of people, first starting with a loved one, someone whom they easily felt compassion for, like a friend or family member. Then, they practiced compassion for themselves and, then, a stranger. Finally, they practiced compassion for someone they actively had conflict with called the "difficult person," such as a troublesome coworker or roommate.
"It's kind of like weight training," Weng says. "Using this systematic approach, we found that people can actually build up their compassion 'muscle' and respond to others' suffering with care and a desire to help."
Compassion training was compared to a control group that learned cognitive reappraisal, a technique where people learn to reframe their thoughts to feel less negative. Both groups listened to guided audio instructions over the Internet for 30 minutes per day for two weeks. "We wanted to investigate whether people could begin to change their emotional habits in a relatively short period of time," says Weng.
The real test of whether compassion could be trained was to see if people would be willing to be more altruistic -- even helping people they had never met. The research tested this by asking the participants to play a game in which they were given the opportunity to spend their own money to respond to someone in need (called the "Redistribution Game"). They played the game over the Internet with two anonymous players, the "Dictator" and the "Victim." They watched as the Dictator shared an unfair amount of money (only $1 out of $10) with the Victim. They then decided how much of their own money to spend (out of $5) in order to equalize the unfair split and redistribute funds from the Dictator to the Victim.
"We found that people trained in compassion were more likely to spend their own money altruistically to help someone who was treated unfairly than those who were trained in cognitive reappraisal," Weng says.
"We wanted to see what changed inside the brains of people who gave more to someone in need. How are they responding to suffering differently now?" asks Weng. The study measured changes in brain responses using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after training. In the MRI scanner, participants viewed images depicting human suffering, such as a crying child or a burn victim, and generated feelings of compassion towards the people using their practiced skills. The control group was exposed to the same images, and asked to recast them in a more positive light as in reappraisal.
The researchers measured how much brain activity had changed from the beginning to the end of the training, and found that the people who were the most altruistic after compassion training were the ones who showed the most brain changes when viewing human suffering. They found that activity was increased in the inferior parietal cortex, a region involved in empathy and understanding others. Compassion training also increased activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the extent to which it communicated with the nucleus accumbens, brain regions involved in emotion regulation and positive emotions.
"People seem to become more sensitive to other people's suffering, but this is challenging emotionally. They learn to regulate their emotions so that they approach people's suffering with caring and wanting to help rather than turning away," explains Weng.
Compassion, like physical and academic skills, appears to be something that is not fixed, but rather can be enhanced with training and practice. "The fact that alterations in brain function were observed after just a total of seven hours of training is remarkable," explains UW-Madison psychology and psychiatry professor Richard J. Davidson, founder and chair of the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds and senior author of the article.
"There are many possible applications of this type of training," Davidson says. "Compassion and kindness training in schools can help children learn to be attuned to their own emotions as well as those of others, which may decrease bullying. Compassion training also may benefit people who have social challenges such as social anxiety or antisocial behavior."
Weng is also excited about how compassion training can help the general population. "We studied the effects of this training with healthy participants, which demonstrated that this can help the average person. I would love for more people to access the training and try it for a week or two -- what changes do they see in their own lives?"
Both compassion and reappraisal trainings are available on the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds' website. "I think we are only scratching the surface of how compassion can transform people's lives," says Weng.
Other authors on the paper were Andrew S. Fox, Alexander J. Shackman, Diane E. Stodola, Jessica Z. K. Caldwell, Matthew C. Olson, and Gregory M. Rogers.
The work was supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health; a Hertz Award to the UW-Madison Department of Psychology; the Fetzer Institute; The John Templeton Foundation; the Impact Foundation; the J. W. Kluge Foundation; the Mental Insight Foundation; the Mind and Life Institute; and gifts from Bryant Wanguard, Ralph Robinson, and Keith and Arlene Bronstein.
After dropping the last two presidential elections and the last three US Senate races, Virginia Republicans had good reason for optimism heading into this fall's elections: Terry McAuliffe, the former Democratic National Committee chair who bragged about nearly missing his child's birth so he could party with a gossip columnist, is at the top of the Democratic ticket. Things should be looking up for the Virginia GOP. Instead, the party?s activists have resisted calls for moderation and swerved hard to the right quicker than you can say transvaginal ultrasound.
Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican party's nominee for governor, once cited Martin Luther King Jr. as justification for his argument that sexual relations between two people of the same gender should be illegal. E.W. Jackson, the party's nominee for lieutenant governor, believes that gays are "degenerate" and "spiritually darkened" and will eventually destroy America. Mark Obenshain, the party's nominee for attorney general, recently attempted to require women to contact the police within 24 hours of a miscarriage.
The immediate cause is obvious. Virginia Republicans don't select their executive ticket via primary. Instead, they chose their slate last Saturday at a one-day nominating convention packed with grassroots activists. Jackson, a Baptist preacher who finished in the low single digits in last year's US Senate primary, was able to win on the first ballot by virtue of well-received speech typified by lines like, "I am not an African-American, I am an American!"
"Conventions are not representative of the party," says Tom Davis, a former Republican congressman from Northern Virginia, referring to Jackson's nomination. "When you get a convention, this is what you get."
What Virginia got, specifically, was this: Jackson previously warned that President Obama is either an atheist or a Muslim, but definitely an "evil presence." He compared Planned Parenthood to the KKK. He alleged that the Obama are communist sympathizers. He said that gays are turning their backs on black women, "sexualizing children" and just generally a "poison" to society. He said that a vote for him is a vote for God. He wants Don't Ask, Don't Tell to be reinstated. He said that the Democratic party's agenda is "worthy of the Antichrist." He also filmed a video in which he smashes watermelons (representing Obama?s policies) with an American-flag axe.
Next to Jackson, Obenshain is comparatively conventional. He walked out of the Virginia Senate chamber rather than vote to confirm an openly-gay judge. In January. Of 2013. He opposes a non-discrimination policy against LGBT employees. In his own office. That?s to say nothing of his now-notorious 2009 attempt to criminalize un-reported miscarriages, a policy his spokesman conceded ?was far too broad, and would have had ramifications that neither he nor the Commonwealth's attorney's office ever intended.? Now he wants to be the state's highest-ranking attorney.
Almost immediately after Saturday convention, reporters began speculating whether the nomination of Jackson and, to a lesser extent, Obenshain, might be be bad for Cuccinelli. But from a policy perspective, Cuccinelli doesn?t differ very sharply from either of the two?which helps to explain why he had no problem touring the state by airplane with both Obenshain and Jackson on Sunday, and reiterating his support for the beleaguered lieutenant general nominee on Tuesday.
Cuccinelli has attempted to block private companies from providing health insurance to gay couples. He thinks same-sex marriage is a serious problem that should be statutorily prohibited. He repeatedly defended the state's now-defunct ban on oral sex. And he?s compared?over and over and over again?the fight against reproductive rights to the fight against slavery. Up until this week, Cuccinelli's office even maintained that he was immune from public records laws. (The same can't be said for climate scientists at the University of Virginia, whom he has has used his office to target on the basis that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by university researchers in an attempt to defraud the public.)
This wouldn't be the first time a Virginia GOP slate is undermined by its own nominating convention. The best previous examples came in the early 1990s, when Senate nominee Oliver North and lieutenant governor nominee Michael Farris flopped at the polls in consecutive years despite otherwise strong performances by the party. Both North, a key player in Iran?Contra, and Farris, a homeschooling activist, were disavowed by then-GOP Sen. John Warner.
But there have been no public disavowals of the slate this year?at least not yet. I reached out to the offices of Virginia?s eight (male) GOP congressmen to see if they were supporting Jackson?s candidacy. Only one responded?Rep. Frank Wolf, whose spokesman confirmed that he endorsed the entire ticket.
Davis is voting for Jackson anyway, for a simple reason: "It's control of the state Senate. The lieutenant governor doesn't vote on anything. I certainly don't agree with his comments, but I don't agree with some of Cuccinelli's comments either...And frankly just to tell you, what E.W. was saying isn't much different from what most of the others were saying."
"This is where the party is gonna go,? Davis said. "I would marginalize myself in the future if I come out here and don?t support the ticket. So we support it. I mean, how active I?m gonna be remains to be seen."
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Jami Littlefield, 51, of Griswold, pleaded guilty Monday in Superior Court in Norwich to third-degree assault. She told authorities she paddled the girl in January because she was acting out, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Littlefield was arrested after the girl's biological mother noticed bruises on her daughter's buttocks when the child bent over to pick up a toy during a supervised visit. Medical staff at the Pequot Health Center determined the girl's contusions appeared to have been caused by the repeated strikes of a blunt instrument.
Littlefield initially denied hitting the child but later said she spanked the girl with the?spoon?she was using to stir soup after the child struck her granddaughter, spat at her, and used a racial slur, according to the arrest document.
Gary Kleeblatt, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Families, told The Day of New London?that Littlefield's foster care license, which she received in 2004, was removed after her arrest.
Foster parents receive extensive training on the proper care of children, including how to manage behaviors without resorting to corporal punishment, Kleeblatt said.
"Certainly we expect that they will not use an instrument of any type," he said.
Littlefield is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17. Under terms of her plea deal she faces 100 days in prison and two years of probation.
FILE - In this May 15, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. It might have seemed a no-win situation to the White House: either keep President Barack Obama in the dark about a looming investigation into political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service or blur legal lines by telling him about an independent audit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
FILE - In this May 15, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. It might have seemed a no-win situation to the White House: either keep President Barack Obama in the dark about a looming investigation into political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service or blur legal lines by telling him about an independent audit. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
FILE - In this May 10, 2006 file photo, then-federal prosecutor, now White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler is seen in Houston. It might have seemed a no-win situation to the White House: either keep President Barack Obama in the dark about a looming investigation into political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service or blur legal lines by telling him about an independent audit. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan, File)
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney gestures as he speaks during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, May, 20, 2013. Carney spoke on various subjects including the recent scandals involving the IRS and Justice Department. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
FILE - In this May 9, 2013 file photo, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. It might have seemed a no-win situation to the White House: either keep President Barack Obama in the dark about a looming investigation into political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service or blur legal lines by telling him about an independent audit. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2010 file photo White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. It might have seemed a no-win situation to the White House: either keep President Barack Obama in the dark about a looming investigation into political targeting by the Internal Revenue Service or blur legal lines by telling him about an independent audit. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and other senior advisers knew in late April that an impending report was likely to say the IRS had inappropriately targeted conservative groups, President Barack Obama's spokesman disclosed Monday, expanding the circle of top officials who knew of the audit beyond those named earlier.
But McDonough and the other advisers did not tell Obama, leaving him to learn about the politically perilous results of the internal investigation from news reports more than two weeks later, officials said.
The Treasury Department also told the White House twice in the weeks leading up to the IRS disclosure that the tax agency planned to make the targeting public, a Treasury official said.
The apparent decision to keep the president in the dark about the matter underscores the White House's cautious legal approach to controversies and reflects a desire by top advisers to distance Obama from troubles threatening his administration.
Obama spokesman Jay Carney defended keeping the president out of the loop on the Internal Revenue Service audit, saying Obama was comfortable with the fact that "some matters are not appropriate to convey to him, and this is one of them."
"It is absolutely a cardinal rule as we see it that we do not intervene in ongoing investigations," Carney said.
Republicans, however, are accusing the president of being unaware of important happenings in the government he oversees.
"It seems to be the answer of the administration whenever they're caught doing something they shouldn't be doing is, 'I didn't know about it'," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told CBS News. "And it causes me to wonder whether they believe willful ignorance is a defense when it's your job to know."
Obama advisers argue that the outcry from Republicans would be far worse had McDonough or White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler told the president about the IRS audit before it became public, thereby raising questions about White House interference.
Still, the White House's own shifting information about who knew what and when is keeping the focus of the IRS controversy on the West Wing.
When Carney first addressed the matter last week, he said only that Ruemmler had been told around April 22 that an inspector general audit was being concluded at a Cincinnati IRS office that screens applications for organizations' tax-exempt status. He said the audit was described to the counsel's office "very broadly."
But on Monday, Carney said lower-ranking staffers in the White House counsel's office first learned of the report one week earlier, on April 16. When Ruemmler was later alerted, she was told specifically that the audit was likely to conclude that IRS employees improperly scrutinized organizations by looking for words like "tea party" and "patriot." Ruemmler then told McDonough, deputy chief of staff Mark Childress, and other senior advisers, but not Obama.
The Treasury official said Monday that the department twice passed on information to the White House about the IRS' plans to disclose the political targeting. Childress and Treasury chief of staff Mark Patterson were in communication on the matter, as were lawyers at both the White House and Treasury.
In the first instance, Treasury officials told the White House that Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups, was considering making a public apology in a speech.
Around the same time, Treasury relayed to the White House that Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller expected to be asked about the matter in congressional testimony on April 25, but the issue was not raised.
However, the Treasury official said the department did not tell the White House about the IRS' final decision for Lerner to apologize for the targeting during a conference on May 10. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and insisted on anonymity.
The IRS is an independent agency within the Treasury Department. Because of that independent status, the official said Treasury deferred to the IRS in its decision about how to make the targeting public.
Despite the notifications from the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS, the White House insists it did not know the conclusions of the inspector general report until it was made public.
Members of Congress sent the IRS at least eight letters since 2011 asking about complaints from tea party groups that they were being harassed by the IRS. Many of those lawmakers are livid that the IRS chose to reveal that conservative groups were being targeted at a legal conference instead of telling Congress.
A new Pew Research Center poll shows 42 percent of Americans think the Obama administration was "involved" in the IRS targeting of conservative groups, while 31 percent say it was a decision made solely by employees at the IRS.
The IRS matter is one of three controversies that have consumed the White House over the past week. In each instance, officials have tried to put distance between the president and questionable actions by people within his administration.
As with the IRS investigation, the White House says Obama learned only from news reporters that the Justice Department had subpoenaed phone records from journalists at The Associated Press as part of a leaks investigation. And faced with new questions about the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, Obama's advisers have pinned responsibility on the CIA for crafting talking points that downplayed the potential of terrorism, despite the fact that the White House was a part of the process.
Former White House officials say a president has little choice but to distance himself from investigations and then endure accusations of being out of touch, or worse.
"It's a tough balance," said Sara Taylor Fagen, who was White House political director for President George W. Bush from 2005 to 2007.
"With a scandal, there's no way to win," said Fagen, whom the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed and sharply questioned in a probe of dismissed U.S. attorneys. "There may never have been any wrongdoing by anyone in the White House, on any of these issues," she said, "but once the allegations are made, you can't win."
A White House peeking into an ongoing investigations can trigger a political uproar. A well-known case involved President Richard Nixon trying to hinder the FBI's probe of the Watergate break-in.
In a less far-reaching case in 2004, the Bush White House acknowledged that its counsel's office learned of a Justice Department investigation into whether Sandy Berger - the national security adviser under President Bill Clinton - had removed classified documents from the National Archives. Democrats said the White House hoped to use the information to help Bush's re-election campaign.
In the current IRS matter, two congressional committees are stepping up their investigations this week with hearings during which IRS and Treasury officials will be questioned closely about what they knew and when.
Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman heads to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, giving lawmakers their first opportunity to question the man who ran the agency when agents were improperly targeting tea party groups. The Senate Finance Committee wants to know why Shulman didn't tell Congress - even after he was briefed in 2012 - that agents had been singling out conservative political groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.
Also testifying will be Miller, who took over as acting commissioner in November, when Shulman's five-year term expired. Last week, Obama forced Miller to resign.
On Wednesday, Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin will testify before the House oversight committee.
Treasury inspector general J. Russell George says he told Wolin about the subject of the IRS inquiry last summer.
In a related matter, the IRS acknowledged Monday that an official testified to Congress about tax-exempt matters long after her duties supposedly had shifted to the rollout of Obama's health care law.
Republicans point to Sarah Hall Ingram's history at IRS as they question the agency's ability to properly oversee aspects of Obama's health care overhaul. The IRS will play a major role in determining benefits and penalties under the new law.
The IRS had said last week that Ingram shifted to overseeing the health care law rollout in December 2010, well before alarm bells went off at headquarters that a unit of the tax exempt division was targeting tea party groups for extra scrutiny.
But records show she testified to Congress in her capacity as head of the tax-exempt office as recently as last year.
Monday the IRS said in a statement that Ingram "was in a unique position to testify" about tax-exempt policies in May 2012. It said Ingram "still formally held" the title of IRS commissioner of tax exempt and government entities, even though "she was assigned full-time to (health care law) activities since December 2010."
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says Congress needs to find out what Ingram and other officials knew, and when they knew it.
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Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Jim Kuhnhenn and researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report.
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Given the battering President Obama took this past week on a trio of political scandals, any public opinion survey results that aren?t dreadful probably are viewed with some relief at the White House.
That may be the clearest message from a CNN/ORC poll released Sunday morning.
According to the survey, which was conducted Friday and Saturday, 53 percent of Americans say they approve of the job the president is doing, with 45 percent saying they disapprove, CNN reports. That?s actually a tick better than the 51 percent approval rating Obama had in early April ? but not enough to break out the sparkling cider.
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"That two-point difference is well within the poll's sampling error, so it is a mistake to characterize it as a gain for the president," says CNN polling director Keating Holland. "Nonetheless, an approval rating that has not dropped and remains over 50 percent will probably be taken as good news by Democrats after the events of the last week."
For those of you blissfully unaware, those events are the administration?s handling of the terrorist attack on the US diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, last November (where US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed); the IRS badgering of tea party and other conservative organizations; and the Justice Department snooping into the telephone records of Associated Press journalists as part of a crackdown on national security leaks.
(We would add to that trio a fourth item reported in recent days: losing track of a couple of terrorists in the federal witness protection program.)
Gallup?s latest numbers track closely with CNN?s ? a slight improvement for Obama to 51-42 approve/disapprove.
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For now, as the headline on an AP story puts it, ?Obama agenda seems to be weathering controversies.?
?Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office,? writes AP special correspondent David Espo.
That could change, of course, given the possibility of new revelations, Republican intransigence, or both. GOP leaders certainly spun it in that direction on the TV news shows Sunday.
On NBC?s ?Meet the Press,? Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the IRS scandal ? singling out tea party and other conservative groups for special scrutiny of their tax status ? was part of a broader "culture of intimidation" within the Obama administration.
To what extent are Americans paying attention to all of this?
?Slim majorities of Americans are very or somewhat closely following the situations involving the Internal Revenue Service (54 percent) and the congressional hearings on the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and its aftermath (53 percent) ? well below the average for news stories Gallup has tracked over the years,? writes Frank Newport, Gallup?s editor-in-chief.
CNN?s numbers here seem more troubling for the White House.
More than 70 percent of those surveyed say IRS targeting of conservative groups was unacceptable; a majority (52 percent) say the Justice Department's actions regarding the AP phone records were unacceptable; 59 percent say the US government could have prevented the attack in Benghazi; and a large minority (44 percent) say statements made by the Obama administration soon after the attack ?were an attempt to intentionally mislead the public.?
At this point, according to CNN, most Americans do not think Republicans have overplayed their hand on either the Benghazi or IRS controversies. Gallup finds that 74 percent on the IRS and 69 percent on Benghazi find these situations ?serious enough to warrant continuing investigation.?
"More Republicans than Democrats or Independents say these three issues are very important to the nation, but even among Democrats, nearly half say the matters are very serious," says CNN polling director Keating Holland.
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BAMAKO (Reuters) - After winning adulation across Mali for a five month military offensive that crushed al Qaeda fighters, France is now frustrating some of its allies by pushing for a political settlement with a separate group of Tuareg rebels.
A standoff over how to restore Malian government authority to Kidal, the last town in the desert north yet to be brought under central control, is sowing resentment with Paris and could delay planned elections to restore democracy after a coup.
Mali's army has moved troops towards Kidal, a stronghold of the MNLA Tuareg separatists, but missed a self-imposed deadline this week to retake the Saharan town. France, which has its own forces camped outside, does not want Malian troops to march on the town, fearing ethnic bloodshed if it is taken by force.
"Paris blocks army at the gates of Kidal," read a headline in Le Matin, a weekly in Mali's capital Bamako.
Elections are planned for July in Mali to finally restore normalcy after a chaotic 18 months that saw Tuaregs launch a revolt, the military carry out a coup, al Qaeda-linked Islamists seize the north and 4,000 French troops arrive to dislodge them.
Many in government and on the streets of Bamako blame the January 2012 uprising by the Tuareg MNLA for unleashing the other calamities that nearly dissolved the country. Nationalists now want the army to march into Kidal to disarm the rebels.
France is instead backing secretive talks being held in neighbouring Burkina Faso, designed to allow the July elections to take place, while urging Bamako to address Tuaregs' long-standing demands for autonomy for their desert homeland.
Clashes between Arabs and Tuaregs have shown that ethnic tension remains high.
GOODWILL FRAYING
The former colonial power, France won enthusiastic public support across Mali for its decision to send troops in January to crush the al Qaeda-linked fighters. French flags still flutter in parts of the dusty riverside capital, and President Francois Hollande was cheered as a liberator by huge crowds when he visited in February.
But goodwill is giving way to frustrations over Kidal, with many Malians questioning why France would not boldly confront the MNLA as it had done the coalition of al Qaeda-linked rebels.
Within the army, whose morale evaporated in a string of defeats last year, anger simmers over foreign interference.
"Our men are ready but we have not received the orders to enter the town. It is a political decision," said a senior Malian officer, who asked not to be named.
Mali's interim President Dioncounda Traore, whom Paris has defended from military pressure, voiced support for dialogue with the MNLA on Friday in Paris ahead of a meeting with Hollande. He said plans for decentralisation should satisfy the MNLA's demands.
But many in Mali, particularly those close to the army, are hostile towards dialogue. The official Twitter feed for Mali's presidency refers to the MNLA as terrorists.
Hollande rejects that label, saying the MNLA fought alongside French and African forces against the Islamists, providing intelligence on Islamists' positions.
"We have said we will are willing to aid the return of Malian civilian administration to Kidal to organise elections," Hollande said this week, appearing to rule out a military alternative. "We want a political dialogue, and I think that will happen."
"KIDAL WILL VOTE"
The MNLA stole back into Kidal after France's air and ground assault scattered the Islamists. The town has since been under awkward joint occupation by the MNLA with French troops and, for a time, their Chadian allies.
Defence Minister Yamoussa Camara promised parliament this month that Mali's forces would be in the town by May 15. Residents in northern Mali have reported movement towards Kidal for weeks, but the force has yet to arrive.
The Kidal region is home to just 0.5 percent of Mali's population - by far its least populated area - but the authorities say the national vote cannot take place without it.
"Kidal will vote like the rest of the country ... That's what Malians want," said Gamer Dicko, spokesman for the territorial administration ministry, tasked with organising elections. "Not holding an election there would be a de facto split of the country."
Diplomats say talks are quietly underway in Burkina Faso to find a way of allowing the elections to proceed in Kidal, as a stepping stone to political talks with the MNLA and other armed groups once a permanent, elected government is in place.
"It is about finding a gentleman's agreement so the elections can take place in Kidal," a West African diplomat said, asking not to be named. "The transitional government will not find a definitive solution to the problem."
President Traore has named a former minister, Tiebile Drame, as special envoy to coordinate talks with northern groups.
Traore wrote in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Drame had been named so that "Mali can keep control of the process", an apparent sign of frustration with the role played by a panoply of U.N. and African mediators.
Another diplomat said recent discussions in Bamako had revealed divisions between the Western position that more regional autonomy was needed to resolve the conflict and African nations' support for a tougher line on the rebels.
"African nations didn't criticise France directly but they were very critical of the MNLA," said the source.
Part of the difficulty of talks with the Tuaregs, diplomats say, is the divisions within their armed groups. The MNLA alone has 21 representatives on its negotiating commission.
A spokesman for the MNLA in Paris confirmed that contacts had been made with the Malian government through Burkina Faso mediators, but he said they were not official talks. He would not comment on the conditions needed for elections to go ahead.
United States Champion Kofi Kingston & Dean Ambrose will fight against one another at WWE Extreme Rules 2013 aired on Sunday May 19, 2013.
Schedule: Date: Sunday May 19, 2013 Time: 8PMET or 5PMPT Venue Scottrade Center City St. Louis, Missouri Kofi Kingston vs Dean Ambrose
Watch Live on PPV
This Sunday at Extreme Rules, ?The Wildcat? will look to repel the challenge of one of the calculating ?Hounds of Justice,? as fearless, high-flying United States Champion Kofi Kingston defends his illustrious title against The Shield?s most erratic and, fittingly, ?extreme? member, Dean Ambrose. After going head-to-head with The Brothers of Destruction in back-to-back weeks on SmackDown ? and using The Shield?s numbers advantage to decimate both the legendary Undertaker and Kane with a pair of vicious post-match assaults ? the volatile Ambrose?s first opportunity at priceless WWE title gold comes against a three-time U.S. Champion who is dangerous and unpredictable in his own right.
Viking Cruises, long a purveyor of cruises along inland rivers in Europe, Russia, Egypt and Asia, has announced its expansion into the arena of ocean cruises. The launch of Viking Ocean Cruises, announced May 17 marks the introduction of the travel industry?s first new cruise line in nearly a decade.
The new cruise line, which will launch in May 2015, will focus on substance over size.
?In the race to build bigger ships, many cruise lines have lost sight of the destinations to which they sail,? Torstein Hagen, chairman of Viking Cruises, said in a statement announcing the new venture. ?With our new ocean cruises, we are applying the same principles behind our award-winning river cruises to our itinerary.?
Ship design, privileged-access excursions and onboard experiences will make destinations the true focus, he said.
Viking Ocean Cruises will inaugurate its service with its first vessel, the 928-passenger, all-verandah Viking Star. A ?small ship? at slightly over 750 feet in length, the Viking Star is engineered at a scale that allows direct access into most ports, so passengers will have easy and efficient embarkation and debarkation.
Holland America?s ms Volendam, for example, is considered a ?mid-sized? ship. At slightly over 781 feet in length, it carries nearly 1,500 passengers. Royal Caribbean?s Oasis of the Sea and Allure of the Sea, currently the world?s largest cruise ships, are nearly 1,200 feet (three football fields) long and carry 6,000 passengers. That?s more than an aircraft carrier. But I digress.
The Viking Star?s maiden voyages will be in Scandinavia and the Baltic, and the Western and Eastern Mediterranean.
Boasting what the company calls ?understated elegance,? the ship has an all-verandah design and offers passengers a choice of five stateroom categories from 270 square feet to 405 square feet. All staterooms have king-size beds, large showers, and LCD televisions in addition to private verandahs.
The Viking Star also offers 14 Explorer Suites, which are two-room suites ranging from 757 square feet to 1,448 square feet. Located at the bow and the aft, Explorer Suites offer sweeping views from wrap-around private verandahs as well as additional amenities and privileges not available in other on-board categories.
Itineraries are curated for maximum time in port, often with late evenings or overnights, allowing guests the option of experiencing local nightlife or taking in evening performances. Ports are selected to appeal to those with an interest in history, art and culture.
Prices area all-inclusive, with every cruise fare including a veranda stateroom, shore excursions in each port of call, all onboard meals, and all port charges and government taxes. Passengers also enjoy many complimentary amenities as part of their fare, including beer and wine with lunch and dinner service, wi-fi, self-service laundry and 24-hour room service?a value of more than $2,400 per couple for an average cruise, according to the company.
The Viking Ocean Cruises approach to ocean cruising will no doubt serve to attract travelers who have been put off by the current state of the cruise industry, including my wife and me.
I have taken only one cruise to date: a repositioning cruise on which I had an outside cabin with a window but no outside space. Although it was only three days, I decided then and there that it was too claustrophobic and that I would not take another cruise unless I could secure at least a verandah suite. Viking Ocean Cruises? approach overcomes that hurdle.
The second facet that has kept us from cruising is the price. Given my self-imposed limitation on our accommodations, we have not been able to find a cruise to a location and at a time we want to travel for less than $1,000 per day per couple. At least when one takes advantage of the early-booking two-for-one special, Viking Ocean Cruises overcomes that hurdle as well.
The shortest cruise ? the 10-day ?Empires of the Mediterranean? from Istanbul to Venice or vice versa ? can currently be booked for a fare as low as US$2,999 per person, or about $6,000 for a 10-day cruise. Of course that doesn?t include tax or airfare, but it does include all the items previously mentioned, which can add a fair amount to the base fare quoted by other cruise lines.
The early-booking fares expire?Jul 31. Go to www.VikingCruises.com/oceans for more details, and ask for EBD (early-booking discount) when booking.
Bon voyage!
Photos courtesy Viking Ocean Cruises Click on photos to view larger sizes images.
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. A rugby player tries on some head gear during Fridays game. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Les fun?railles de Rowan Stringer, d?c?d?e ? l'?ge de 17 ans, lors d'une partie de rugby ? l'?cole, ont eu lieu, le samedi 18 mai 2013, ? Ottawa. CHRIS HOFLEY/OTTAWA SUN/QMI AGENCY
Some of Rowan Stringer's memorabilia sits boxed at her home before a memorial, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Some of Rowan Stringer's memorabilia sits boxed at her home before a memorial, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Gordon Stringer, left, and his wife, Kathleen Stringer, pose with a framed portrait of their daughter, Rowan, Thursday, May 16, 2013, who died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Gordon Stringer, left, and his wife, Kathleen Stringer, pose with a framed portrait of their daughter, Rowan, Thursday, May 16, 2013, who died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Some of Rowan Stringer's memorabilia sits boxed at her home before a memorial, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Copy photo of Rowan Stringer's high school portrait at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Gordon Stringer, left, and his wife, Kathleen Stringer, pose with a framed portrait of their daughter, Rowan, Thursday, May 16, 2013, who died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Copy photo of Rowan Stringer's high school portrait at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
Pictures of Rowan Stringer playing rugby and with her teammates is photographed at her home Thursday, May 16, 2013. Rowan died after a head injury suffered while playing high school rugby last week. Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Gloucester (red) taking on Grande-Riviere Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Gloucester (red) taking on Grande-Riviere Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. A Gloucester rugby player got hurt during the game Friday, Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. The womens rugby players wore purple in memory of Rowan Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas taking on Philemon Wright Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Gloucester (red) taking on Grande-Riviere Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. Notes written for Rowan's family members. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. The womens rugby players wore purple in memory of Rowan Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. A player from Lisgar tries to get the ball before it went out of bounds Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
The Gee Gees 4th Annual Junior Girls High School 7 A-Side Tournament took place at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, On. Friday May 17, 2013. The tournament was dedicated to Rowan Stringer, captain of her rugby team at John McCrae Secondary School in Ottawa, who died in hospital Sunday from suffering a rugby head injury. St. Thomas (Black and red) taking on Lisgar Friday. Tony Caldwell/Ottawa Sun/QMI Agency
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Rowan Stringer was the young girl all of her peers wanted to be like.
With her bubbly personality, her infectious smile and her easygoing approach to life, her friends gravitated towards her like moths to a lamp.
She was bursting with energy, always steaming full speed ahead, ready to jump from one activity to the next.
But what really set her apart was the way she meticulously balanced her life.
She was beautiful, a veritable fashionista in her own right, her father Gordon admits, but sports were always her true passion, the driving force behind her life.
Captain of her rugby team, a seasoned athlete in half a dozen other sports, she wasn?t content unless she was weaving, deking, tackling or checking.
Yet her boisterous, high-octane lifestyle came to a sudden and screeching halt last week when she took her final tackle on the rugby pitch at John McCrae Secondary school.
Landing headfirst into the unforgiving ground ? the second, perhaps even the third such fall in the same week ? the bright light behind her eyes slowly dimmed.
She fell into a coma, her head injury so severe she wouldn?t wake. After four days, her parents knew they wouldn?t truly see their daughter open her eyes ever again, and chose to do what she?d always insisted on ? donating her organs to patients in desperate need.
The knee-jerk reaction to her sudden and tragic death is obvious to many.
Lock up our children after school; forbid them from ever enrolling in contact sports; encase them in protective bubble wrap to let the minds of parents rest easy.
Some school boards are considering outright banning rugby from their sports programs.
Other parents insist extra padding ? even helmets ? should be enforced in all high school sports.
But Gordon and Kathleen Stringer, who this very weekend are putting to rest their beloved daughter ? surrounded by the sports memorabilia she held most dearly ? insist these impulsive decisions must be put aside.
Gordon asserts it?s education that?s lacking in high school sports ? learning the true toll head injuries can have on even the healthiest athletes ? and there needs to be a shift in the way students approach concussions.
As a nurse, Kathleen has seen her fair share of concussion symptoms at work. And with Rowan playing every sport under the sun, they?ve have brushes with concussions even closer to home.
?We were always aware of (concussions), but this one was a bit over the top,? said Gordon, thinking back to the afternoon Rowan was hit.
?Kids just want to shrug it off and keep playing, they hide their symptoms from their coaches.
?That was Rowan, and that was a lot of her friends,? he said. ?They?re kids, they?re teenagers, they feel like they?re invincible, but sometimes they?re not completely ready to go. The adrenalin is going and everything at that time, but they really do have to take care of themselves.?
The school board is reviewing the incident, but the Stringers hope they would never cancel rugby at school.
?That?s not where we want to go with this at all,? he said. ?We?re not pursuing anything like that, that?s the last thing Rowan would have wanted.?
He added this is a real opportunity to teach students about the risks of concussions and open up the lines of communication between them and coaches and their parents.
?But as far as demonizing the sport, that?s something that?s going way, way out of bounds,? he said.
?What happened in Rowan?s case, it was an accident. It was a horrible accident.?
Their daughter was torn away from them, but she?s become a powerful beacon shining her light into the darkest corners of this insidious condition.
?I just want to raise awareness with the athletes, the kids and their friends,? he said. ?There can be serious consequences they have to be aware of, and I hope she can help save the lives of others just like her.?
Sports injury stats
There are 4 million sports-related concussions a year in North America.
15% of kids take longer than a month to recover
About 1 to 20 people die each year from second-impact syndrome across North America
About 10-12% of high school athletes have suffered a concussion
1 in 5 sports-related injuries are brain injuries
18,000 Ontarians suffer a brain injury each year
Brain injuries are the No. 1 killer and disabler of people under 44 in Canada
Repeated concussions could lead to brain degeneration with symptoms similar to Alzheimer?s and Parkinson?s disease
Twitter: @ottawasunmaubry
Do you think more should be done to prevent teen concussions?
All Critics (124) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (115) | Rotten (9)
The harmonies they strike in this reality-inspired charmer are sweetly sublime.
You could drive an Abrams tank through the film's plot holes, but you'll likely be too busy enjoying yourself to bother.
"The Sapphires" feels like a movie you've already seen, but it's nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable, like a pop song that's no less infectious when you know every word.
"The Sapphires" sparkles with sass and Motown soul.
Sapphires is hardly a cinematic diamond mine. But this Commitments-style mashup of music and melodrama manages to entertain without demanding too much of its audience.
The mood is so charming and the music so inspiring that you continually cut it a break.
By-the-numbers in every sense of the word, the film tracks a tried-and-true sort of triumph while featuring renditions of soul classics so bursting with energy and joy you won't care that the originality meter is leaning on empty.
Even when it seems contrived The Sapphires is a feel-good movie in the most positive meaning of that term, thanks to the Motown music and O'Dowd's cheeky charm. Like the Four Tops, I loved every sugar pie, honey bunch moment. I can't help myself.
Unfortunately, it has been turned into a routine and uninspiring movie, following a tired, old formula the entire way.
A surefire crowdpleaser with all the ingredients for the type of little-movie-that-could sleeper success that Harvey Weinstein has nurtured in years and award seasons past.
You've seen this story before, but never pulled off with so much joie de vivre.
They can put a song across just like the Dreamgirls. What's not to like?
Exuberant but fairly formulaic.
Doesn't always mix its anti-prejudice message and its feel-good nostalgia with complete smoothness. But despite some ragged edges it provides a reasonably good time.
Director Wayne Blair -- another veteran of the stage show -- finds his footing during the film's many musical numbers.
Despite the prosaic plot and reserved approach taken by Blair, Briggs, and Thompson, it's tough to get cynical about such a warmhearted picture that strives to tell so uplifting a story.
A movie with enough melody and camaraderie to cover up its lack of originality.
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LONDON (Reuters) - The website and Twitter feed of British newspaper the Financial Times were hacked on Friday, apparently by the "Syrian Electronic Army", a group of online activists who say they support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The group posted links on the newspaper's Twitter feed to a YouTube video, uploaded on Wednesday, which purports to show members of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front Syrian rebel group executing blindfolded and kneeling members of the Syrian army.
The video could not be independently verified.
Hacking attacks on verified Twitter accounts of media organizations have triggered urgent calls for the micro-blogging website to increase account security, particularly for news outlets.
"Various FT blogs and social media accounts have been compromised by hackers and we are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," a statement from the FT press office said. The paper is owned by Pearson Plc
Twitter was not immediately available for comment.
Stories on the FT's website had their headlines replaced by "Hacked By Syrian Electronic Army" and messages on its Twitter feed read: "Do you want to know the reality of the Syrian 'Rebels?'", followed by a link to the video.
The group has previously targeted the Twitter account of the BBC's weather service, and those of Human Rights Watch and French news service France 24.
In the most disruptive incident so far, someone took control of the Twitter feed of U.S. news agency the Associated Press last month and sent a false tweet about explosions at the White House that caused financial markets to plunge.
(Reporting by Mohammed Abbas, Kate Holton and Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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