Vancouver Sun Video Awards Workshop Aim to Inspire Creativity in Students

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Sharpest Minds in Video Gather to Pass on Their Knowledge

VANCOUVER  The Vancouver Sun, CBC and Vancouver Film School have recruited the sharpest minds in video production and documentary filmmaking for a one-day workshop aimed at students on Saturday, Nov. 2.

As part of the Student Video Awards, the workshop will provide young, aspiring filmmakers an opportunity to discover the latest techniques in a range of topics from the art of visual storytelling and cultivating creative ideas to how to make your video go viral, as well as tips and tricks from top animators.

Connecting students to working professionals opens doors as well as minds, Dean Broughton, chief news editor digital for The Vancouver Sun, and workshop organizer said Monday. It’s an opportunity for students to explore and learn from some of the sharpest minds in the field.

The SVA Workshop will be held at the new Vancouver Film School campus at 151 West Cordova Street in Gastown. The early-bird registration cost is $45, and includes lunch and a T-shirt.

You can also keep tabs on the contest at the SVA Facebook page and follow on Twitter atPush the Creative Envelope by David Vandas; Online Distribution Strategies by Kai Nagata; Storytelling and Character Development by VFS’s Michael Baser; and The Age of Imagination, focusing on animation and idea, generation by Colin Giles.

The workshop is part of the third annual Vancouver Sun-CBC Student Video Awards, which offers more than $20,000 in prizing to Vancouver Film School Summer Intensive sessions. Since the inception of the SVA in 2011, more than 1,500 students have participated in submitting films which have reached more than 80,000 people.


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Suicide Bomber Kills 25 in Iraq

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People inspect the site of a double suicide bomb attack in the Shiite neighbourhood of Sadr city in Baghdad, Iraq.  AT least 25 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in an Iraqi town on Sunday where people were mourning the death of a man killed by militants a day earlier, police said.  The blast brought down the ceiling of the mosque in Mussayab, 60km (40 miles) south of the capital Baghdad. Police said some bodies were still trapped beneath the debris. At least 50 people were wounded.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the bombing, which is the latest in a spate of attacks targeting both Sunni and Shi'ite places of worship, particularly during funerals.

Iraq's delicate sectarian balance has come under growing strain from the civil war in neighboring Syria, where mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are fighting to overthrow a leader backed by Shi'ite Iran.

Both Sunnis and Shi'ites have crossed into Syria from Iraq to fight on opposite sides of the conflict.

Al Qaeda's Iraqi and Syrian branches merged earlier this year to form the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has claimed responsibility for attacks on both sides of the border.

Suicide bombings are the hallmark of al Qaeda.

Several other attacks in recent weeks also suggest that Shi'ite militias, which have so far largely refrained from retaliating, may once again be resorting to violence.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in acts of violence since the start of the year, according to Monitoring Group Iraq Body Count.

UN Resolution Orders Syria Chemical Arms Destroyed

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United Nations: The UN Security Council unanimously passed a landmark resolution on Friday ordering the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and condemning a murderous poison gas attack in Damascus.

The major powers overcame a prolonged deadlock to approve the first council resolution on the conflict, which is now 30 months old with more than 100,000 dead.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon, a critic of the council's paralysis, called the resolution "the first hopeful news on Syria in a long time." Ban also said he hopes to convene a peace conference in mid-November.

Resolution 2118, the result of bruising negotiations between the United States and Russia, gives international binding force to a plan drawn up by the two to eliminate President Bashar al-Assad's chemical arms.  There are no immediate sanctions over a chemical weapons attack confirmed by the UN. But it allows for a new vote on possible measures if the Russia-US plan is breached.  Divisions over the war remained clear, however, in comments by their foreign ministers after the vote.

"Should the regime fail to act, there will be consequences," US Secretary of State John Kerry warned the 15-member council after the vote sealing a US-Russian agreement.  But Kerry hailed the resolution.  "The Security Council has shown that when we put aside politics for the common good, we are still capable of doing big things," he said. No automatic punitive measures

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that there were no automatic punitive measures and that the resolution applied equally to the Syrian opposition.  He said the council would take "actions which are commensurate with the violations, which will have to proven 100 per cent."  Russia, Assad's main ally, has rejected any suggestion of sanctions or military force against Assad. It has already used its veto power as a permanent Security Council member to block three Western-drafted resolutions on Syria.

The resolution "condemns in the strongest terms any use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic, in particular the attack on August 21, 2013, in violation of international law."

The United States says the attack on the Damascus suburb of Ghouta left more than 1,400 dead. It blamed Assad's government for the sarin gas assault and threatened a military strike over the attack. The government has denied responsibility.

Should Syria not comply with the resolution, the Security Council members agreed to "impose measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter."  Syria attacks must be 'accountable'

The charter can authorize the use of sanctions or military force. But diplomats said Russia would fiercely oppose any force against its ally. All sides agreed that new action will require a new vote.

Russia also rebuffed calls by European powers Britain and France for the Ghouta attack to be referred to the International Criminal Court.  The resolution expressed "strong conviction" that those responsible for chemical weapons attacks in Syria "should be held accountable."

It formally endorsed a decision taken hours earlier in The Hague by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to accept the Russia-US disarmament plan.  The plan called for Syria's estimated 1,000 tonnes of chemical weapons to be put under international control by mid-2014. Experts say the timetable is very tight.

International experts are expected to start work in Syria next week. Britain and China announced that they will offer finance to the disarmament operation.

Ban said the resolution "will ensure that the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program happens as soon as possible and with the utmost transparency and accountability."  Ban also told the Security Council he wanted to hold a new Syria peace conference in November. "We are aiming for a conference in mid-November," Ban said, adding that foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States had agreed to make sure the two sides in the conflict negotiate in "good faith."

A first peace conference was held in June 2012 but there has been no follow up because of divisions in the Syrian opposition and the international community.  Ban will start contacts with his Syria peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi next week on setting the firm date and who will attend the new meeting, diplomats said.

The Security Council resolution gave backing to the 2012 conference declaration, which stated that there should be a transitional government in Syria with full executive powers.  It also determined that the new peace conference would be to decide how to implement the accord.  A car bomb north of Damascus that killed at least 30 people earlier in the day and 11 more deaths in a government air raid highlighted the continued slaughter in Syria's long-running civil war.  "We must never forget that the catalog of horrors in Syria continues with bombs and tanks, grenades and guns," said Ban.

Apple's Advanced Fingerprint Technology

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Apple's advanced fingerprint technology is hacked; should you worry?

It took only days for the hackers of Germany’s Chaos Computer Club to claim victory in the challenge to break Apple’s vaunted new security feature in the iPhone 5s. The CCC “biometrics hacking team” used a photo of a fingerprint from a glass surface to fashion a fake finger that they then used to fool the newest iPhone into unlocking. “This demonstrates – again,”  the group said in a statement, “that fingerprint biometrics is unsuitable as access control method and should be avoided.”

Actually, it demonstrates no such thing.

The new iPhone debuted on Friday, September 20. The CCC team announced their successful hack roughly 48 hours later. But if you think this is a crushing defeat for Apple, think again. Apple's technology is good enough for most common applications. But no fingerprint reader is unhackable.

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Biometric information like fingerprints and retina scans are useful pieces of a multi-factor authentication puzzle. Although the CCC claims they used “materials that can be found in almost every household,” it’s unlikely that many households have the imaging technology to capture a fingerprint in a 2400 dpi photograph, clean up the resulting image and print it at 1200 dpi “onto transparent sheet with a thick toner setting,” and then “smear pink latex milk or white woodglue” into the pattern to make a fake finger like the one that successfully bypassed the security of Touch ID.

Despite the slightly high-end lab equipment, this isn’t exactly rocket science. The source fingerprint probably looked like this


And the lab bench where the fake finger was created probably looked something like this:

Cool, huh? Except those pictures aren't from the CCC. They're from a similar hack that was publicized more than a decade ago. Back in 2003, another group led by researchers Antti Kaseva and Antti Stén posted an almost identical description of a fingerprint hack using a Windows-based fingerprint scanner that was, at the time, state of the art:

President Barack Obama Reveals Why He Quit Smoking: "I'm Scared of My Wife"

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Be careful what you say, President Barack Obama!
While privately chit-chatting with UN General Assembly attendee Maina Kiai this week, the commander in chief didn't realize one of his microphones was still on and let slip a funny anecdote about wife Michelle Obama.

"I hope you've quit smoking," Obama said to Kiai, who replied, "Sometimes."

"I haven't had a cigarette in probably six years," Obama continued, adding with a smile and laugh, "That's because I'm scared of my wife."

Back in 2011, Michelle revealed that her husband had finally kicked his smoking habit, saying, "He's always wanted to quit."
And back in 2008, Obama told People he wasn't an every-day smoker. "That was always a little over-hyped," he said of the reports. "You know, I'd sneak maybe three, four cigarettes a day, then I could go three or four days without one."
It sure sounds like Obama's done smoking for good, thanks to the positive influence of the First Lady!

Fresh Gunfire From Kenya Mall

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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted Sunday morning from the upscale Kenyan mall where there is a hostage standoff with Islamic extremists nearly 24 hours after they attacked using grenades and assault rifles.

Two wounded Kenyan security forces were carried out of the Westgate shopping mall after a sustained volley of gunfire that may have included grenade blasts.

Kenyan authorities said the militants held an unknown number of hostages in the shopping center located in the Westlands area of Nairobi, after killing at least 39 and injuring 150 on Saturday.

Somalia's al-Qaida-linked rebel group, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack in which they specifically targeted non-Muslims.

Kenyans and foreigners were among those confirmed dead, including French and Canadians. Kenya's presidential office said that one of the attackers was arrested on Saturday and died after suffering from bullet wounds.
"Violent extremists continue to occupy Westgate Mall. Security services are there in full force," said the United States embassy in an emergency text message issued Sunday morning.

Trucks brought in a fresh contingent of soldiers from the Kenya Defense Forces early Sunday to back the combined military and police force that surrounded the upscale mall overnight.

Daylight brought some good news, as Kenyan media reported that several people in hiding in the mall escaped to safety, suggesting that not everyone who is still inside is being held by al-Shabab. Cecile Ndwiga said she had been hiding under a car in the basement parking garage.  "I called my husband to ask the soldiers to come and rescue me. Because I couldn't just walk out anyhow. The shootout was all over here — left, right— just gun shots," she said.  Nairobi resident Paolo Abenavoli said he is holed up in his apartment only 100 meters from the mall with a direct view of the entrance. He said he could see a dozen or more security forces inside a first floor restaurant.  "The battle is on now," Abenavoli told The Associated Press by telephone as the fresh gunfire broke out Sunday.

Security forces had pushed curious crowds far back from the mall. Hundreds of residents gathered on a high ridge above the mall to watch for any activity.

Nairobi Live: At Least 30 Hostages, 15 Terrorists Still Inside Westgate Mall

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A gunbattle inside a shopping centre in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, has left at least 30 people dead and more than 50 injured, authorities said.

Gunfire has been exchanged for hours after Kenyan troops and elite units joined police fighting gunmen in Nairobi's upmarket Westgate shopping centre on Saturday.

In a statement issued by Kenya's Internal Security Minister Mutea Iringo said that the government is now "fully in charge" of the situation at the mall.

Police and security guards, who are calling the hours-long siege a "terrorist incident", told the AFP news agency that gunmen have also taken at least seven hostages in what was initially believed to be an armed robbery.

Smoke was seen rising from the shopping complex where gunfire is being exchanged with gunmen at the shopping centre in the Westlands district - one of the city's most exclusive shopping malls. The gunmen are reported to be carrying assault rifles and wearing combat fatigues.

Another witness said the attackers just opened fire, executing people after they threw grenades into the building at about midday local time (09:00 GMT).

Unverified witness accounts have indicated that the attackers targeted non-Muslims and foreigners.

Police said they had surrounded the Westgate mall, which is popular with wealthy Kenyans and expatriates, and urged residents to stay away from the area.

'Not ordinary thugs'

Alan Boswell, a freelance reporter who has been outside the shopping centre, told Al Jazeera that a strong firefight broke out earlier, and that there are still people being evacuated from the mall, some on stretchers.

"Many of them are quite terrified - they're crying, they're clutching their children," said Boswell.

An unknown number of attackers, he said, were still inside and in control of certain parts of the mall, where a heavy security presence remains.

"There's been no indication that [the situation] is under control," said Boswell.

There are reports of people still be trapped trapped in the mall's shops as well as parking garage. Police say they have managed to escort some shoppers to safety but are still trying to capture the gunmen.

Billow Kerrow, a senator from Mandera County in Nairobi, said it is still unknown who the attackers are.

"It's too early to know what kind of people these are, but from what we are getting, these are people who speak in the Swahili language," said Kerrow.

"They are people who seem to know what they are doing, are pretty much organised. It's really quite a shocking thing because from what we're getting, they aren't ordinary thugs," he said.