NATO Begins Helicopter Attacks in Hopes of Ending the Stalemate With Qaddafi

 

Two American-built Apache helicopters operating from a British helicopter-carrier ship plying the Mediterranean 20 miles off the Libyan coast attacked targets before dawn near the oil city of Brega. British reporters aboard the Royal Navy ship Ocean said that both helicopters returned safely after missions lasting less than two hours. Defense officials in Paris said that French helicopters flying from the helicopter carrier Tonnerre also joined in the Brega strikes.

NATO said in a statement that the British helicopters had successfully attacked “military vehicles, military equipment and fielded forces.”

NATO officials have said that they regard the introduction of attack helicopters — the British Apaches and two French helicopter types, the Tigre and the Gazelle — as potential game changers in a conflict that has shown signs of settling into a stalemate. They say the helicopters’ advantage over airstrikes conducted from fast jets flying as high as 20,000 feet is their enhanced ability to carry out precision strikes against Qaddafi forces operating in urban areas, and to pinpoint targets like snipers or small groups of loyalist fighters hiding among civilians or close to schools and hospitals.

But the helicopters also introduce a new level of vulnerability for NATO pilots. Libya still has some scattered air defenses, consisting mainly of portable antiaircraft missiles and truck-mounted systems, which could pose dangers to relatively slow, low-flying helicopters.

The helicopter attacks were begun a week after Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France approved the deployment of attack helicopters from each of their forces, describing the move as intended to increase the military pressure on Colonel Qaddafi. NATO leaders, including President Obama, have called on the Libyan leader to abandon power and leave Libya, demands that he has repeatedly rejected.

Previously, all of 3,640 strike sorties flown during the 11-week air campaign had been by fixed-wing attack jets or missile-carrying Predator drones, following up on an initial barrage by cruise missiles.

The British version of the Apache flies at a maximum speed of about 160 miles an hour, compared with the potentially supersonic Tornado, Typhoon and Rafale jets that have conducted most of the British and French attacks in the air campaign.

The commander of the British helicopter carrier told reporters aboard the ship that the targets struck early on Saturday included a radar site and an “armed checkpoint” near Brega, a Qaddafi-held port in eastern Libya that has been a major export point and servicing center for Libya’s oil industry. French officials said that French helicopters attacked a military camp, apparently one that a NATO statement described as comprising 14 military vehicles, as well as “two shelters and 12 tents.”

With the costs of the air campaign mounting, and the stresses growing on air crews, finding a way of breaking the stalemate has become a priority for NATO, and particularly for Britain and France, which are carrying the brunt of the campaign.

Mr. Obama has let NATO allies take the lead in the Libyan operations, an unusual role for them in the history of such operations. The United States’ role has been confined primarily to air refueling, airborne command and control, surveillance and the deployment of missile-carrying drones.

Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, the Canadian commander who oversees the air campaign from a base in Naples, Italy, issued a statement on Saturday calling the helicopters’ first missions successful and adding: “We will continue to use these assets whenever and wherever needed.”

Within hours of the Brega attacks, Britain’s Foreign Office announced that Foreign Secretary William Hague had arrived in the rebel capital, Benghazi, for talks with rebel leaders. The London statement said that Mr. Hague’s trip was “meant to show support for citizens fighting the rule” of Colonel Qaddafi.

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Retooled Car Series Revives Summer Box Office Hopes

 

That is what should have happened to “The Fast and the Furious” car-racing series five years ago when a third installment, “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” sputtered, selling about $62 million in tickets in North America, or 50 percent less than its predecessor.

But Universal Pictures didn’t give up, and a souped-up fourth movie, “Fast & Furious,” showed surprising strength in 2009.

Over the weekend, a new entry, “Fast Five,” rocked Hollywood by selling almost $84 million in tickets, by far the biggest opening of the year and — if the prayers of movie moguls are answered — signaling the beginning of a box-office turnaround.

“Relieved” is one word Adam Fogelson, Universal’s chairman, used to describe his state of mind on Sunday morning. “We made a lot of very specific and very strategic choices that were not obvious.”

Studios and theater owners urgently need a big summer. Domestic box-office revenue has fallen 14 percent in 2011, to about $3 billion, compared with the same period a year earlier, according to Hollywood.com, which compiles statistics on ticket sales. Higher prices, particularly for 3-D screenings, have probably kept some people at home. But the likeliest culprit is quality, which many studio executives concede has been lacking in a lot of releases.

The movie industry’s high-stakes summer season traditionally stretches from the first full weekend in May to Labor Day, when studios record about 40 percent of their annual box office revenue. With “Fast Five,” Universal decided to stretch the period, using the marketing slogan “summer starts early.” Ticket sales easily surpassed the record for the weekend, set last year by “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” which took in $33 million.

“Fast Five” is an unusual sequel because of Universal’s fix-on-the-fly approach, but it is as good a marker as any of what the movie capital is counting on in the months ahead: sequels and more sequels. There are 10 this time around, including “Fast Five,” more than there have been in any summer in recent memory.

“They’re stacked one after another after another, which will help give the marketplace momentum,” said Phil Contrino, editor of BoxOffice.com.

Of these films, one in particular is expected to be a multiplex monster — “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” from Warner Brothers. It is the first Potter film to be released in 3-D and finishes out the series.

Expectations are also high for “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (Walt Disney Studios), “Kung Fu Panda 2” (DreamWorks Animation) and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Paramount Pictures).

Pixar’s “Cars 2” doesn’t open until June 24 but has already broken one record: the biggest array of related retail merchandise, beating “Star Wars.”

Hollywood is taking some enormous risks in the coming stretch. One of the biggest gambles is “Green Lantern,” a space opera that Warner hopes will put to rest criticisms about the degree to which it has mined its DC Comics library for movie characters. Early buzz has been mixed, with questions about the visual effects and the skin-tight costume and mask worn by its star, Ryan Reynolds.

“There is also the worry of superhero fatigue,” Mr. Contrino said, noting that “Green Lantern” will arrive after Marvel’s “Thor” and 20th Century Fox’s much-anticipated “X-Men: First Class.”

Another question mark is “Cowboys & Aliens,” an expensive genre mash-up starring an aging Harrison Ford. It’s an alien movie set in the Old West, and some industry experts fear it could fall flat. On the positive side, the companies behind this picture, DreamWorks Studios and Universal, recently released new marketing materials to positive response.

Nobody needs hits more than Universal, which, despite a few bright spots like “Hop,” was recently labeled “a bomb factory” by the entertainment news site Deadline.com. The studio has a new corporate parent, Comcast, which is watching to determine whether management changes are needed.

“The Fast and the Furious” franchise, which made its debut in 2001 as a counterculture car movie, underscores how hard Universal executives are trying.

 

The Bay Citizen: Willie Brown Academy, Born in 1992 With High Hopes, Will Close in May, a Failure

But those dreams have been thoroughly dashed, and the 160-student school is set to close May 27, largely as a result of chronic student underachievement and high truancy. And for those unfortunate enough to be a part of its final months, conditions have gone from bad to worse.

Parents, teachers and some officials acknowledge a breakdown in teaching and discipline. Students roam the hallways during class time. One teacher has often shown movies rather than press ahead with science lessons. A pack of students looted the school store, with impunity.

Jonathan Woahn, a seventh-grade math teacher, noted that few top district leaders had set foot in the school after announcing last year that it would close.

“The kids rule the school,” Mr. Woahn said. “I think administrators just want us to hold on through the rest of the school year; there are no expectations beyond that.”

Marylin Taylor, whose son Romeo Reeves is an eighth grader at Willie Brown, agreed. Ms. Taylor said staff members took an indifferent approach not only to students, letting them run through the hallways and “holler,” but also sometimes to parents. She said she had left two messages recently with the principal’s office to discuss her son’s academic progress but had not received a return call.

“My son was unable to live up to his highest potential at this school,” said Ms. Taylor, a nursing staffing coordinator. “I am so happy that he won’t be attending that school anymore.”

Patricia Gray, an assistant superintendent in the San Francisco Unified School District, said administrators had persevered.

“It is not ideal,” Ms. Gray said, “but the alternative to doing what we are doing now was to close the school in December, which would have displaced the kids midyear.

“Learning is the main focus. Now, how much of it is happening? It’s difficult at this time. But we have not given up.”

Jill Wynns, a school board member, said the district had tried mightily to raise student achievement. But the school has languished in recent years and been judged harshly under the rules of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

When the federal government granted the district $45 million last year to improve its worst-performing schools, the district moved to close Willie Brown — in part because its facilities were crumbling. Officials hope to build a new school in its place.

“Do I think we have done the best job we could at that school in recent years?” Ms. Wynns asked. “No. That’s why I think it’s time to go on to the next opportunity. In this case, the next opportunity we have is closing the school.”

 

Spotify announces new limits for free service, hopes you'll consider its premium options

 By Donald Melanson posted Apr 14th 2011 3:11PM No, it's still not saying anything about the eventual US launch, but Spotify is now causing a minor ruckus across the pond, where it's just announced some changes to the free version of the music streaming service. The timeline for the changes varies depending on when you signed up, but the short of it is that users will have six months of access to the free service as it is now, after which they'll face some stricter limits on how much they can listen to. That includes a total of just ten hours of listening time each month, and the ability to listen to individual songs no more than five times. Of course, the obvious goal there is to get more folks to sign up for its Premium or Unlimited services, which the company notes remain unchanged.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]