France: French smartphone app targets Islamophobia
A leading French organization which combats anti-Muslim behaviour and speech launched a new smartphone and tablet app on Monday, allowing users to report incidents of Islamophobia by sending photos and videos to the group.
The Collectif Contre l’Islamophobie en France (the Collective against Islamophobia in France) on Monday launched a smartphone app to enable members of the French public to report anti-Muslim acts and speech.
“In the face of Islamophobia, let’s all be witnesses,” CCIF said in a statement on Monday.
The app – available on Apple phones and tablets and for Android – allows users to filter news reports on racist and anti-Muslim activity, to check if there have been recent incidents in their area, and perhaps most significantly, to report such incidents, whether as victim or witness. …
The Local
Canada: It’s in the stars – Nova Scotia family has knack for finding supernovas
Paul Gray and his children Nathan, 10, and Kathryn, 12, of Halifax have all discovered supernovas, a bright explosion after the death of a star.
10-year-old Nova Scotian Nathan Gray may be the youngest person to have discovered a supernova. The rookie astronomer says he’s been searching for about eight months with the help of a family friend who owns an observatory. …
The Star
Spain: Spain’s most active graffiti artist arrested
Spanish police have arrested the country’s most prolific train graffiti artist, whose works have appeared across Europe and the United States, officials said on Tuesday.
Police accuse David Sanchez Esteban, a 31-year-old unemployed electrician known as “LOSE” who started painting in 1995, of causing over €31,000 ($42,000) in damages to metro and commuter trains in Madrid.
The Spanish national has also painted trains in London, Copenhagen and Athens, New York and other cities, a police statement said.
“He is considered to be a leader by fans of this type of vandalism as he has painted the most metres of train surface in Spain, which is the criteria they use to establish their seniority,” the statement said. …
The Local
United Kingdom: Star Wars producers to hold open auditions in UK and Ireland for ‘beautiful’ actors
Casting note reveals plot details about the upcoming film.
Open auditions for Star Wars: Episode VII are taking place in the UK and Ireland over the next fortnight, according to a casting call posted online.
Two of the lead roles in the JJ Abrams-directed film have yet to be cast, and producers are on the lookout for a “beautiful” and “athletic” young actress and a “handsome, smart” young actor.
Potential cast members will meet the casting directors in Bristol this weekend. The auditions will then move on to Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and London. …
The Independent
Japan: Haute couture for grandmother, granddaughter runway models
While tall glamorous models walked the runways during the recent Fashion Week Tokyo extravaganza, a different kind of fashion event involving two generations was taking place elsewhere in the city.
Grandmothers and granddaughters took to their own runway at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward wearing matching outfits.
The outfits were designed by Hiroto Tamaki, one-half of the designer duo for the label “et momonakia,” which has been showing at Fashion Week Tokyo. Tamaki sat down with the older amateur models, all in their 50s through 70s.
“I challenged myself to create outfits that would light up these beautiful ladies,” he said. “I wanted to show them at their very best.” …
The Asahi Shimbun
Kazakhstan: Spacecraft wreck found near Baikonur
A wreck of an unidentified spacecraft has been discovered not far from Baikonur, Tengrinews reports citing the Emergency Situations Ministry of Kazakhstan.
Several objects resembling fragments of a spacecraft were found three kilometers from Kokzhabaky village of Kazaly region of Kyzyorda Oblast in southern Kazakhstan. There were no casualties. The site was cordoned off. A working commission to study the situation was formed. …
Tengri News
Malta: All street lamps to be replaced in energy-saving project
A project to replace all street lights in Malta and Gozo with energy saving lamps will be a public-private partnership, with the two sides splitting the savings, Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said on PBS this morning.
The government announced in the Budget speech yesterday that a pilot project will be launched next year whereby intelligent street lighting will be installed in Gozo and 12km in Malta.
The project, co-financed by the European Union, is projected to cost €2.8 million. …
Times of Malta
