| Cuarón: Mexican film industry can't bask in his success
At the recent Oscar show, Hollywood embraced global diversity, including nominations for films by three Mexican directors: Alejandro González Iñárritu for Babel, Guillermo del Toro for Pan's Labyrinth and Alfonso Cuarón for Children of Men. Yet the last, new on DVD today, basked in Oscar glow despite Hollywood, not because of it. A downbeat sci-fi saga about civilization in collapse, it had scant studio support until rave reviews and solid box office nudged it toward three Oscar nods: for cinematography, editing and adapted screenplay. (Cuarón shared credit on the last two.) Even so, Cuarón was "very happy with what we got. I do think diversity is creeping into the mainstream, and I don't think it's a token thing." But the international picture isn't that rosy.
Macao bank denies money laundering charges
The Macao-based Bank Delta Asia (BDA) on Monday, March 26, denied US accusations that it had engaged in money laundering activities or neglected unusual financial practices related with Pyongyang. In a statement issued on Monday, Stanley Au Chong Kit, owner of BDA and its subsidiary Delta Asia Credit Limited (DAC) in Hong Kong, rejected allegations the US Treasury Department made in September 2005 and in its final ruling on March 14. In September 2005, the US Treasury Department alleged that BDA was a "primary money laundering concern" and on March 14, it continued to claim that BDA had inadequate control to deter or detect money laundering or other illicit activity and inadequate due diligence that facilitated unusual financial practices by clients related with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Interview: T-Mobile's Neil Holroyd talks to Pocket Gamer
I couldn't agree more with Neil Holroyd's final comments about the need for cross handset, cross operator, cross country interoperability. With the increasing sophistication and capability of mobile devices combined with consumer requirements for greater content quality and accessibility there is a massive opportunity for content providers to target the mobile market. But maximising this new market opportunity presents very real challenges. Service providers, content developers and device manufacturers cannot simply rush headlong towards delivering the latest technological advances to an avid consumer base. There is a real need to address the issue of fragmentation caused by the differing levels of compatibility of the diverse mobile technologies. Without understanding the implications of multiple underlying technologies, from operating systems onwards, organisations will struggle to deliver content that provides a consistent, high quality user experience irrespective of underlying mobile platform.
32000 owed US pensions
A total of US$133 million in retirement benefits haven't been claimed, the federal agency that insures private pension plans has reported. The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp (PBGC) said 32,000 people are owed money. Individual benefits range from US$1 up to US$611,028. The average unclaimed benefit is about US$4,950. "Although the vast majority of workers receive their full pension, sometimes people lose track of benefits earned with former employers," said Vince Snowbarger, the agency's interim director. Online search The agency urged people who may have lost track of a pension earned during their career and think they may be owed retirement benefits to conduct a search using PBGC's online directory - http://www.pbgc.gov/search Pensioners can search by their last name, company name or state where the company was headquartered, the PBGC said.
American frontier town redefines its border claims
Today's story is the first of a weeklong series that examines major changes in Mexico, and how they affect us. EL PASO, Texas — Church's Fried Chicken seemed only slightly less crowded than Kentucky Fried Chicken, but both restaurants sit in a prominent spot right across the street from the Saturday marketplace. That means, on Saturdays, the fry baskets stay hot. Almost as hot, perhaps, as the kiosk booths, where a ready-made taco can be purchased from an enterprising street vendor. The fast-eat spots dotting downtown El Paso stay full on market day. There are a few English-speaking Anglos who sometimes wander inside, but most of the customer base in this part of town seems to be Spanish-speaking, just as with the gigantic flea-market type of tent mall going on next door.
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