Air travel calls for cool heads

Some travelers and expatriates can be the bane of their country’s image abroad. Think of the ugly American, the title of a book and later a 1960s movie starring Marlon Brando about Americans in Southeast Asia. It became a pejorative term used to refer to the loud and ostentatious type of visitor who made compatriots cringe. Now China is getting a different kind of taste of what it is like, thanks to smartphone images and social media coverage of uncivilized and dangerous incidents on international and domestic flights.

Something bad is going to happen in Sherlock. How could it not? The Sign Of Three was so cockle-warming an outing for Holmes and Watson, with such a cheering resolution (a baby! a disco! so many declarations of love!), that it had to be setting us up for a fall. A figurative one, this time.

Sherlock’s indestructibility established, the ‘something bad’ dangles Damoclean over other heads than his. There’s John of course, Mycroft, Molly, Lestrade, Mrs. Hudson and the Woman, all of whom mean something to us and our hero. Another character though, one whose arrival could have signalled disruption and resentment but whose warmth, humour and winning portrayal by Amanda Abbington meant she ruffled not a feather, feels less safe.

For the first time in 70 years, Hampton Court Palace was closed to visitors. Outside its gates stood an intriguing figure: a slight woman, of Indian origin, wearing expensive furs. She was selling suffragette newspapers out of a satchel, and shouting: “Votes for Women!” It was the extraordinary Princess Sophia Duleep Singh, with her own beguiling combination of royalty and revolutionary fervor.

There is a lot of anxiety in northern Cameroon because of the growing frequency of Boko Haram attacks – and growing number of those who take part in them. The military is also frustrated at not being able to chase the insurgents once they cross back into Nigeria.

Thousands of Cameroonian troops have been deployed to the north to stem the raids – which Boko Haram’s leader warned in a video this month will increase in intensity. But Cameroon’s border with Nigeria is long and porous, so it has been difficult to police.

News that Chadian troops are arriving to help patrol it has cheered residents. Tanks and armoured vehicles with Chadian soldiers have been seen arriving over the weekend. Chad’s military has an impressive record of taking on insurgents – most recently in northern Mali.

Civilians now hope the countries will come to a deal allowing their armed forces to cross borders so that the militants can be contained.

The Academy’s first black president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, tackled backlash from this year’s exceedingly white slate of Oscar nominees in an interview with the Associated Press Friday night, pledging greater outreach to women and minorities.

“In the last two years, we’ve made greater strides than we ever have in the past toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive organization through admitting new members and more inclusive classes of members,” Boone Isaacs told the AP. “And, personally, I would love to see and look forward to see a greater cultural diversity among all our nominees in all of our categories.”

Not a single actor or actress of color was recognized by the Academy this year, despite a number of acclaimed films featuring non-white casts and directors. Many prominent industry figures, including George Lucas and Spike Lee, blasted the Academy for ignoring Selma director Ava DuVernay and actor David Oyelowo, who portrayed Martin Luther King, Jr. in the widely praised film.

Some of the most memorable news imagery of the post-war years came from the struggle for black equality, when photojournalism doubled as iconography.

So shocking were the front page pictures from Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963 of police German shepherd dogs tearing at the clothes and flesh of young protesters that it roused public support for the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act that dismantled segregation in the south.

So grotesque was the sight of a column of civil rights protesters being bludgeoned by state troopers in Selma, Alabama, on what became known as "Bloody Sunday" that pressure for a new voting rights act became irresistible. Police brutality has often been the precursor to sweeping racial reform.