Q: When is an opera not an opera? A: When it's a Broadway show. Q: Then when is a Broadway show not a Broadway show? A: When it's an opera. Q: So how do you tell the difference? A: That's a tough question. These days, a very tough question. For too long "opera" has been narrowly + defined as what goes on at the Metropolitan Opera House; a rigid distinction between art and entertainment, fervently defended by a musical flat-earth ...

A group of Arab nationalists has confronted the U.N. General Assembly, convening in New York this week, with one of those practical moral and political problems which, from time to time, make the U.N. a genuine world forum. Since the U.S. will have a decisive voice in the debate, the problem is one for all Americans: What is the U.S. attitude towards modern colonialism? Arab Rights. The specific issue is the right of the Arabs, claiming to represent 90% of ...

The rules for Skinbook are clear: No pornographic images or headless torso shots. Don't leave sleazy comments under people's photos. Boot out any "creeps and voyeurs," as site executives call them, who manage to make it past the vetting process for new members. Skinbook.ning.com is a U.K.-based website that proudly touts itself as the Net's only genuine nudist social network. Skinbook capitalizes on users' familiarity with Facebook-style member profiles, messages, forums and groups. Except that, unlike on ...

By the time Kate Middleton begins her journey to Westminster Abbey on the morning of April 29, snipers from London's Metropolitan Police will have taken their positions on rooftops throughout the city. If a bomb explodes along the parade route, police will siphon crowds into areas that have been blocked to traffic, and ambulances will follow predetermined routes to get victims to various hospitals. Should terrorists launch a Mumbai-style gun attack on the streets, armed commandos, waiting ...

Once there was a house-organ named System. The Shaw-Walker Furniture Co. of Chicago handed it around to the employes. Outsiders liked it so well that Arch Wilkinson Shaw found it would make money. He changed its name to System, The Magazine of Business, broadened its appeal, became Publisher Shaw. Circulalation increased still more. So Publisher Shaw made two magazines of it, called one System, the other The Magazine of Business. Both were monthlies. The first concerned itself with Office Management, ...

Water is a lifeline for the farmers and fishermen who live along Laguna de Bay, the largest lake in the Philippines. The rich ecosystem also serves as a reservoir to catch floodwaters to save Manila, on its western shore, from drowning. But water became the Philippines' biggest enemy last week as Typhoon Parma dumped as much as 36 inches of rain in some parts of this nation of islands, compounding misery in areas already flooded by earlier storm Ketsana. Fears ...

Days after one storm left hundreds dead and most of Manila under water, the Philippines was bracing itself Thursday for the impact of a super typhoon gathering pace in the western Pacific. Typhoon Parma is expected to bring heavy rainfall and major property damage to the Philippines on Saturday, according to meteorologists. The storm was upgraded to a super typhoon Thursday as it churned towards the island nation with winds of 240 kph (150 mph). The storm was about 600 ...

The British government has not dropped the case of a British police officer who was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in London 25 years ago, the Foreign Office insisted Sunday. Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised the killing of Yvonne Fletcher with Libya's leader, Moammar Gadhafi, as recently as July, when he visited Tripoli, a Foreign Office spokesman said. "It is vital that the investigation is allowed to resume by the Libyans. The Fletcher family deserves answers. We continue to ...

Bernard Madoff has decided not to appeal the 150-year prison sentence he received for operating the biggest investment fraud in history. "We are not going to appeal," Madoff attorney Ira Lee Sorkin told CNN on Thursday. Sorkin said he met with Madoff this week at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan. "Even if the Court of Appeals sends it back, certainly a guidelines sentence under the circumstances would give him a life sentence," he added. Citing crimes ...

British lawmakers demanded answers Thursday after a newspaper reported that a UK tabloid illegally hacked the phones of thousands of public figures including Gwyneth Paltrow, George Michael and Elle MacPherson. The commissioner of London's Metropolitan Police said he asked his assistant to look into the allegations and determine whether to investigate. It comes after The Guardian newspaper reported Thursday the cell phones of "several thousand public figures" were hacked into by reporters and staff of the News of the World ...