Daily Archives: January 31, 2012

Brazil Losing It’s Iconic Teeny-Weeny Bikini?

January 31, 2012   Jocelyn Apodaca   No comments

-RIO DE JANEIRO

A country famous for it’s shapely women in string bikinis all over the beaches, Brazil is losing it’s luster to a now heavier population of women, with thicker waists and more curves than before.

Clothing designer Clarice Rebelatto, founder of Lehona, a plus-size bikini line, is transforming swimwear for the women who opt to throw out their size 12 all black one-pieces.

With 14 styles including dramatic neck plunges, straps that are basically strings, and bottoms less moderate than the U.S is used to, Rebelatto offers a bit more than the crowd favorite “fio dental” or “dental floss.”

Sold exclusively at specialty shops for Brazil’s big and tall, Lehona launched in 2010 and will cost you about 130 reais or $75.

A conventional swimwear line launched in 2008, Acqua Rosa, added plus-sizes to the mix, which is now more than 70 percent of it’s sales, said director Joao Macedo.

Luis Rebelatto, son of Clarice Rebelatto stated, ”We’re working from the principle that bigger women are just like everyone else: They don’t want to look like old ladies, wearing these very modest, very covering swimsuits in just black.”

A 2010 study by the statistics institute said 48 percent of adult women and 50 percent of adult men in Brazil were now overweight. In 1970 ten percent of the population was considered underweight and most malnourished.

While one of the largest consumers of cosmetic surgery, ten percent of Brazilian teens and adults exercise regularly, a 2008 study found.

Analysts blames Brazil’s rapid belt bust on the swap of beans and vegetables for chips and processed meat.

 

Read More

“Honour Killings” Trial Holding Family Accountable

January 31, 2012   Jocelyn Apodaca   No comments

Photo Credit: echonn.com

The three Afghan-Canadians charged in the murder trail of four relatives came to a close Sunday afternoon, being convicted on all charges.

After the family trio ‘proclaimed innocence,’ Mohammad Shafia, 59, his 2nd wife Tooba Mohammad Yaha, 42 and their eldest son Hamed, 21, were given the automatic life imprisonment sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The verdict was reached at 1pm Sunday after the jury deliberated 15 hours over two days at the Frontenac County Court House in downtown Kingston.

“It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime. The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honour, a notion of honour that is founded upon the domination and control of women,” said Mr. Justice Robert Maranger of Superior Court.

Defense Lawyer David Crowe was “disappointed” with the outcome and promised an appeal following the trial.

The bodies of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, were found at Rideau Canal in a submerged car in June 2009. Rona Amir Mohammad, 53, Mr. Shafia’s first wife, was also in the submerged vehicle. Mohammad posed as Shafia’s cousin and entered Canada illegally. Mohammad was in a polygamous relationship with Shafia and his 2nd wife, but indicated to desperately escape the marriage.

The family denied drowning their female relatives and were booed upon leaving the courtroom.

 

Read More

Twitter Censorship has Few Supporters

January 31, 2012   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.infowars.com

Twitter has announced that they have to power to block certain tweets in a specific country if the government legally requires them to do so.  This new development has led to outrage around the world, specifically in Middle Eastern countries.

Many are currently fearful whether this new policy will suppress the right to free speech and thousands of users are threatening to boycott the social media.

The flock of criticism is a new feeling for Twitter, which is often viewed as embracing the First Amendment.  The companies chief executive, Dick Costolo, even refers to the social media as “the free speech wing of the free speech party.”

But Twitter, along with other major Internet companies like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo, are struggling to find the medium between its philosophical opposition to censorship with the economic desire to fan out around the world.

Twitter still maintains that it is fully committed to free speech.  With the new rules, a censorship notice will appear whenever a tweet is removed, but only in the country which the tweet is deemed illegal.  Previously, if a tweet violated a law and was removed, it vanished completely from the Web.

Read More

Twenty-Six Exoplanets Discovered

January 31, 2012   Joanelle Navarro   No comments

Photo Credit: www.www.voanews.com

NASA scientists have discovered twenty-six new exoplanets outside our solar system.

The exoplanets were found orbiting stars in 11 recently discovered solar systems and range in size from slightly larger than Earth to larger than the planet Jupiter in our system.  The planets were discovered by the Kepler telescope, which views 150,000 stars in a narrow sliver of the night sky.  The telescope orbits the sun.

Most of the planets orbit their stars, which are all larger than the sun, around once every six to 143 days.  The largest solar system just discovered has been given the name Kepler-33 and has five exoplanets.  The exoplanets in this particular system are one-and-a-half to five times larger than Earth.

Doug Hudgins, the program scientist from the Kepler mission, says that he and his fellow scientists don’t currently believe that any of the newly discovered planets can support life.

Since the Kepler telescope was launched two years ago, scientists have discovered 61 exoplanets and over 2,300 planets that need to be further observed.  In order to be deemed an exoplanet, the telescope uses a system called Transit Timing Variations.  This is when two or more planets are in a solar system orbiting their home star.  The gravitational pull of each passing planet must then cause one to speed up and the others to slow down, which confirms a planetary observation.

Read More

  • View a Clip from the Film ‘Raze’

  • Free PR Web Directory

    News and Media link directory