Russia bans abortion advertisements

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning advertisements for abortion, the Kremlin said on Monday, a step activists said would infringe on the reproductive rights of women.

Putin has made stemming a post-Soviet population decline a priority during 14 years in power and struck a conservative tone in his new term, praising what he calls traditional values and holding up the Russian Orthodox Church as a moral guide.

He has drawn fire from the West for a law he signed earlier this year that critics say discriminates against homosexuals.

Wider availability of contraception and a resurgence of religion after the 1991 Soviet collapse have reduced Russia’s abortion rate, but it is among the highest in the world and termination is a top method of birth control.

The government has funded advertising campaigns and offered financial incentives for couples to have multiple children.

The law banning advertising “is not the beginning of the restriction of women’s (reproductive) rights, but rather the continuation of a process begun in 2011,” said women’s rights activist Olgerta Kharitonova.

She was referring to legislation that barred abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy in most cases and establishing a waiting period of at least 48 hours.

A recent proposal submitted to lawmakers would prohibit coverage of abortion by health insurance.

(Reporting By Ian Bateson)

Article source: PRNewswire

No rise in Mass attendance for American Catholics, despite pope’s popularity

(Reuters) – The popularity of Pope Francis, who became pontiff in March, has failed to draw more U.S. Catholics to attend Mass, according to a Pew Research Center poll released on Monday.

While media reports indicate a significant rise in church attendance in some European countries in recent months, the United States saw a slight decrease in Mass attendance since April compared with last year, the survey found.

Since April, 39 percent of U.S. Catholics report attending mass at least once a week, compared with 40 percent of American Catholics who reported that level of attendance last year, according to the Pew Research Center survey.

In the first eight months of Francis’ pontificate, 22 percent of Americans identified as Catholic — the same figure from the corresponding months the year before, the poll said.

The Pew Research Center said its sample size for the survey on church attendance was 7,506.

Francis was elected pontiff in March, succeeding Benedict XVI to become the first non-European pope in 1,300 years and the first ever from Latin America.

In September, Francis said the Catholic Church must shake off an obsession with teachings on abortion, contraception and homosexuality, which won him support among liberal Catholics and some outside the church. He also has emphasized greater humility and more concern for the poor.

Francis’ Twitter following grew to 10 million in October, a milestone in the Vatican’s drive to spread the gospel through social media.

(Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Lisa Shumaker)

Article source: PRNewswire

Black Friday warriors share their best attack plans

(Reuters) – When Aimee Brittain’s team hits the stores in a commando-like fashion on Thanksgiving night in search of Black Friday deals, they’ll stand out from the crowd in their matching “very bright blue” shirts. They’ll scatter when they hit the store, and the shirts will help them see each other quickly.

It’s different for the Goldman sisters. Stephanie Goldman, a Cliffside Park, New Jersey, public relations executive, and her sisters Nadine Kleinman of Highland Park, New Jersey, and Valerie Goldman of Washington, D.C., travel in a pack, flooding one zone at a time.

The strategy, honed when Stephanie was a young teen, has helped them score priority bargains, like the time they got $900 worth of clothes from Ann Taylor for about $100. They went that Black Friday to an outlet store, already full of discounted items, hit the clearance rack, where prices were further reduced, then tacked on the credit-card application discount.

This year, Black Friday starts earlier than ever, with some retailers, including Wal-Mart, opening early on Thanksgiving evening. About 140 million people were expected to shop over the four-day weekend, according to the National Retail Federation.

Goldman, Brittain and other warriors who will prowl for deals on the busiest of shopping days took time from their mission planning to share war stories and tips to those who want to spend less and get more on the day after Thanksgiving. Here are their tips and tales:

SET YOUR STRATEGY

A Black Friday neophyte will shop without a plan. The veteran shopper knows where to go and when, what to buy, and how much to pay.

Goldman and her sisters start months ahead. Over calls and emails, they analyze sales flyers and figure out where the best deals are on the items they want to buy. Many flyers have been available for weeks – Macy’s and Toys R Us for example – collected on sites such as BlackFriday.com.

Brittain, 35, who lives near Atlanta, starts later, but plans to a more extreme degree. A week before Thanksgiving, she and her pack – family and friends including her cousin, her grandmother and an aunt – will pore over the circulars and craft plans right down to the amount of space available in their cars to cart away their booty.

USE THE BUDDY SYSTEM

Brittain’s crew take teamwork seriously. They hit a specific store and go to multiple departments at once, keeping each other on speed-dial to discuss items they have spotted or if someone needs a helping hand. “We call it divide and conquer. It’s battle. It’s war,” she says.

The strategy has paid off handsomely, says Brittain, who writes the prettyfrugaldiva.com blog.

Article source: PRNewswire

Bolshoi veteran says accused dancer was denied roles

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A prominent former Bolshoi Ballet principal told a Russian court on Monday that the victim of an acid attack had denied roles to the main suspect in the crime, a younger dancer he said could have had a “brilliant career” at the renowned theatre.

Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who lost his job at the Bolshoi in the aftermath of the attack on the ballet company’s artistic director Sergei Filin, testified in the trial of dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, who faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

The attack, which left Filin writhing in the snow from the acid thrown into his face by a masked assailant, revealed rivalries over power, pay and roles at one of Russia’s chief cultural symbols.

Tsiskaridze, who had feuded with Filin and longtime former Bolshoi director Anatoly Iksanov, told the court that Filin had more than once engineered Dmitrichenko’s removal from roles that the theatre had already advertised he would play.

“Pavel was pulled out of roles several times on the authority of Sergei Yuriyevich (Filin), and for the Bolshoi Theatre that’s an extraordinary occurrence,” the dark-haired dancer, 39, told the court.

He recounted what he said was an “ugly scene in a corridor” at the colonnaded theatre near Red Square after Filin favored another dancer for a role longtime former artistic director Yuri Grigorovich had wanted Dmitrichenko to play.

“Dmitrichenko was summoned to Filin and … flew out of there followed by a stream of curses,” Tsiskaridze said.

“Sergei Yuriyevich spoke very ugly words.”

Tsiskaridze, a principal dancer and teacher during a 20-year career at the Bolshoi, said he had seen great promise in Dmitrichenko.

“I always told Pasha that a brilliant career awaited him if he worked harder,” he said.

“HOUNDED OUT”

Tsiskaridze, who was ousted from the Bolshoi when his contract was not renewed at the end of June, said at the time he was being hounded out over disputes with the management.

His tense relationship with Iksanov turned poisonous after the acid attack, which Iksanov suggested Tsiskaridze might have played a role inciting.

Shortly after Tsiskaridze was forced out of the Bolshoi, Iksanov was dismissed by the Russian government after 13 years as its general manager.

Tsiskaridze also told the court that Filin had sometimes denied roles to Dmitrichenko’s girlfriend, Anzhelina Vorontsova, saying that she was not in shape or was too big.

Dmitrichenko is accused of organizing the January 17 attack on Filin, whose eyesight remains impaired after more than 20 operations. Yuri Zarutsky is accused of throwing the acid in his face and Andrei Lipatov of driving Zarutsky to the scene.

Dmitrichenko has said he gave Zarutsky the green light to

Article source: PRNewswire

Bolshoi veteran says accused dancer was denied roles

MOSCOW (Reuters) – A prominent former Bolshoi Ballet principal told a Russian court on Monday that the victim of an acid attack had denied roles to the main suspect in the crime, a younger dancer he said could have had a “brilliant career” at the renowned theatre.

Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who lost his job at the Bolshoi in the aftermath of the attack on the ballet company’s artistic director Sergei Filin, testified in the trial of dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, who faces up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

The attack, which left Filin writhing in the snow from the acid thrown into his face by a masked assailant, revealed rivalries over power, pay and roles at one of Russia’s chief cultural symbols.

Tsiskaridze, who had feuded with Filin and longtime former Bolshoi director Anatoly Iksanov, told the court that Filin had more than once engineered Dmitrichenko’s removal from roles that the theatre had already advertised he would play.

“Pavel was pulled out of roles several times on the authority of Sergei Yuriyevich (Filin), and for the Bolshoi Theatre that’s an extraordinary occurrence,” the dark-haired dancer, 39, told the court.

He recounted what he said was an “ugly scene in a corridor” at the colonnaded theatre near Red Square after Filin favored another dancer for a role longtime former artistic director Yuri Grigorovich had wanted Dmitrichenko to play.

“Dmitrichenko was summoned to Filin and … flew out of there followed by a stream of curses,” Tsiskaridze said.

“Sergei Yuriyevich spoke very ugly words.”

Tsiskaridze, a principal dancer and teacher during a 20-year career at the Bolshoi, said he had seen great promise in Dmitrichenko.

“I always told Pasha that a brilliant career awaited him if he worked harder,” he said.

“HOUNDED OUT”

Tsiskaridze, who was ousted from the Bolshoi when his contract was not renewed at the end of June, said at the time he was being hounded out over disputes with the management.

His tense relationship with Iksanov turned poisonous after the acid attack, which Iksanov suggested Tsiskaridze might have played a role inciting.

Shortly after Tsiskaridze was forced out of the Bolshoi, Iksanov was dismissed by the Russian government after 13 years as its general manager.

Tsiskaridze also told the court that Filin had sometimes denied roles to Dmitrichenko’s girlfriend, Anzhelina Vorontsova, saying that she was not in shape or was too big.

Dmitrichenko is accused of organizing the January 17 attack on Filin, whose eyesight remains impaired after more than 20 operations. Yuri Zarutsky is accused of throwing the acid in his face and Andrei Lipatov of driving Zarutsky to the scene.

Dmitrichenko has said he gave Zarutsky the green light to

Article source: PRNewswire