From the NYT:

“In some ways a suburban city can be understood as an intolerant city.” If that loaded quotation from the Calgary-based architect Marc Boutin doesn’t tell you exactly where “Radiant City” stands on the issue of suburban sprawl, the filmmakers have plenty more just like it.

From the BBC:

Indonesian troops deliberately killed five Australian-based journalists during the invasion of East Timor in 1975, an Australian inquiry has heard.

A senior lawyer has told a coroner in Sydney that eyewitness evidence has proved the men were murdered after they had tried to surrender.

The Australian and Indonesian governments have always insisted the journalists died accidentally.

From the BBC:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has denounced what he called fresh plots to destabilise his government, after he closed an opposition TV channel.

He urged supporters to be on alert for a coup attempt and threatened a second TV network, Globovision.

Thousands of people across the country protested for a second day after Mr Chavez's decision not to renew Radio Caracas TV's (RCTV's) licence.

Police, government supporters and protesters clashed violently on Monday.

In a national address shown by all TV stations, Mr Chavez defended his decision to close RCTV as a public service, denouncing the 53-year-old station - Venezuela's most popular - as a "permanent attack on public morals".

He also called news network Globovision an enemy of the state, attacking its coverage of the protests against RCTV's closure.

"Enemies of the homeland, particularly those behind the scenes, I will give you a name: Globovision. Greetings, gentlemen of Globovision, you should watch where you are going," Mr Chavez said.

"I recommend you take a tranquiliser and get into gear, because if not, I am going to do what is necessary."

Congratulations to Syria's President Bashar Assad, who won another seven-year mandate by capturing 97 per cent of the vote!

Not only that, voter turnout is estimated at 95 per cent!

Still, Assad isn't as popular as the late, lamented Saddam Hussein, who captured 99.6 per cent of the vote in Iraq's last pre-colonial election in October 2002.

Did I mention that both Assad and Saddam were the only candidates in their respective elections?

From globeandmail.com:

Sam the Record Man, a Yonge Street staple since 1961 and once Canada's top music retailer, will be closing its doors for good next month.

Citing ubiquitous music downloads, Jason and Bobby Sniderman, the sons of Sam Sniderman and present owners of the flagship Toronto store, said rarely does a day go by without a story about declining CD sales.

“We are making a responsible decision in recognizing the status of the record industry and the increasing impact of technology,” said Bobby Sniderman in a press release.

He would not elaborate when reached by telephone Tuesday.

The store will close June 30.

This is sad news, but totally understandable. I buy far more music on iTunes these days that I spend on CDs. The story notes that Sam Sniderman gave Canadian artists a chance to sell music when no one else did.

That's commendable, but in the market of 2007, that's no longer enough.

Afterthought

CTV Toronto did a story on the move. The video report showed photos of Sniderman with stars like Sammy Davis Jr., Burton Cummings and Johnny Cash.

I found those photos to be both quaint and revealing.