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CNN photojournalist Margaret Moth covered conflicts spanning continents, and said she lived her life to the fullest.View this Post in:
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Simply put, Margaret Moth made an impression.
Given her jet-black hair, thick black eyeliner, black clothes and combat boots (which she often slept in while on assignment), people didn’t always know what to think upon meeting her. She was quirky, the sort who excused herself from a social gathering by saying she had to wash her socks. And she was fearless, the kind of woman who not only kept the camera rolling while under fire, but zoomed in on a soldier who was shooting at her.
Colleagues learned quickly to appreciate all that this CNN camerawoman was. Beyond her rich personality, which included deep optimism and kindness, she brought to her profession top-notch technical abilities, unmatched dedication and an approach to work that inspired others to push themselves.
Moth sought out, even demanded, assignments in conflict zones. She barely survived being shot in the face in Sarajevo in 1992, only to go back as soon as she was physically able. The multiple reconstructive surgeries that followed, as well as the hepatitis C she contracted from a consequent blood transfusion, were mere obstacles she moved around.
But more than three years after being diagnosed with colon cancer, her tremendous life journey has come to an end.
Moth, known for her gutsiness, striking appearance, distinctive humor and sense of fun, died early Sunday in Rochester, Minnesota.
“Dying of cancer, I would have liked to think I’d have gone out with a bit more flair,” she said with a laugh last spring during an interview with a CNN documentary crew that had traveled to Texas, where she was visiting friends.
“The important thing is to know that you’ve lived your life to the fullest,” she said then, before tubing down a river in Austin, Texas; taking jaunts to Cape Cod and the Canadian Rockies; and piloting a houseboat up the Mississippi River — replete with beer and Cuban cigars. “I don’t know anyone who’s enjoyed life more.”
Born Margaret Wilson in Gisborne, New Zealand, to a homemaker and a man who made swimming pools, she got her first camera at age 8. She later changed her name to Margaret Gipsy Moth, a nod to the airplane, which was appropriate for a woman who had a penchant for jumping out of planes, barefoot.
She said she never aspired to be a photojournalist. Rather her path, she explained, was mostly driven by a love of history and her desire to see it unfold firsthand.
Whether she was amid rioters after Indira Gandhi’s assassination or covering a long menu of wars spanning continents, Moth felt she and her colleagues were the lucky ones.
“You could be a billionaire, and you couldn’t pay to do the things we’ve done,” said Moth, who had most recently called Istanbul, Turkey, home.
Reported to be New Zealand’s first camerawoman, she came to the U.S. and worked for KHOU in Houston, Texas, for about seven years before moving to CNN in 1990.
When other photojournalists dived behind cars as militiamen opened fire on protesters in Tbilisi, Georgia, she stood her ground and kept her camera running. As a band of medical professionals defied Israeli tanks and armored vehicles, marching into then-Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s compound in the West Bank, she got in the middle of the group, joined them and helped nab an exclusive interview. When many around her slept in Sarajevo, she set to work in a destroyed hotel room, filming with a night scope through holes blown out by artillery fire, hiding herself and camera from the eyes of snipers.
The Serbian sniper bullet that did hit Moth while she was traveling along “sniper alley” in Sarajevo shattered her jaw, blew out her teeth and destroyed a portion of her tongue — which left her forever sounding like she was drunk, she said.
Others got angry, as the van she traveled in was clearly marked as a press vehicle, but she refused to go there.
” ‘We came into their war. Fair’s fair,’ ” former CNN correspondent Stefano Kotsonis, who was with her when she was shot, remembered her saying. ” ‘I don’t blame anyone for firing at me. They’re in a war, and I stepped into it.’ ”
Her attitude made other colleagues, many of whom were interviewed for the documentary “Fearless: The Margaret Moth Story,” strive to be better at what they did. Sound techs and correspondents would often follow her lead, whether they felt ready or not. She was known to outrun her own security. Photojournalists viewed her as a bar-setter.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international correspondent, who’d been away from Sarajevo when her friend was shot, was sitting at Moth’s hospital bedside when an assignment editor from the international desk called. He wanted to know if Amanpour was ready to return to the conflict zone, she recalled for the documentary about Moth.
“I said I’d go back, and I know to this day that if I hadn’t said yes then, I probably never would have gone back, and I never would have done this career. But I said yes because I couldn’t say no,” Amanpour remembered, fighting back tears. “We did the work for her. We did it because she was our champion, and we wanted to be her champion.”
Sure enough, as soon as Moth could carry a camera again, six months later, she went straight back to Sarajevo to join her CNN colleagues. She joked that she was there to find her teeth.
Moth maintained her humor amid madness and helped others smile and unwind when the surroundings could make levity seem impossible.
She enlisted a producer to go rollerblading with her on the marble floors of a Baghdad, Iraq, hotel lobby. She forced colleagues to tell her who they’d rather sleep with, while giving them horrifying choices. She liked to kick back with fine cigars and could drink others under the table.
Despite her tough exterior, there was insecurity, a vanity to her. No matter where she was, Moth rose early to do her eye makeup and hair. Forever worried about her weight, she picked at a block of cheese in Bosnia for about six weeks and got by on mango juice during a stretch in the West Bank.
She admitted that after being shot, she was more afraid of what she’d look like than she was of dying. Enveloped in bandages, she slipped her dear friend Joe Duran a note asking him if she looked like a monster.
But she often worried about others more than herself.
Moth enjoyed working with seasoned correspondents but also looked out for those who were new. In Pakistan, she taught Patty Sabga to sleep behind couches and talked her through everything she was shooting to help Sabga build her stories. And in Afghanistan, she carefully led the former CNN correspondent through rubble that probably hid land mines.
“She took such incredible care of me and taught me so much,” Sabga said. “I can honestly say that the work I did with Margaret Moth is still the very best work of my career.”
Moth repeatedly visited the doctor who saved her life. And she boosted the spirits and changed the attitude of another CNN photojournalist, David Allbritton, when he was seriously injured by a bomb in Sarajevo in 1995.
“She made me realize that I was going to get through this,” he said. “She set an example by overcoming everything that’s happened to her. … I took that example, and I’m shooting today. I’m not sure that I would be doing what I’m doing today if it had not been for Margaret Moth.”
Her chosen lifestyle didn’t leave room for children of her own, but she bonded with them across the globe. And her love of animals was so deep that she refused to ride in a horse-pulled wagon, preferring to run with heavy equipment in the desert heat while on assignment in Petra, Jordan.
In fact, when it became clear that the advanced cancer would end her life, the concern that drove her to tears was her cats — the more than 25 strays she looked after in Istanbul.
“She was more upset about them than she was about dying,” said Duran, who rushed to her side after she’d been medevaced out of Sarajevo. But when Duran, also a CNN cameraman, moved into her home in Turkey with the promise that he’d care for the cats, he said Moth told him, ” ‘Now I can die happy.’ ”
There were a few things Moth wished she had done. She would have liked to have seen the Krak des Chevaliers, a medieval fortress in Syria, and the Burundi drummers. But regrets? She had none.
She “led the complete life,” Amanpour said. “I don’t think Margaret could ever look back and say, ‘What if?’ She did it to the max, and she did it brilliantly. And she did it on her terms.”
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Senior Democrats say they are confident they have enough votes to pass landmark healthcare reform legislation in the US House of Representatives.
The House is set to vote later on the highly-contested bill, which would give health coverage to 32m more Americans.
Top Democrats, including President Barack Obama, have spent days working to get the 216 votes needed to pass it.
Democratic House Caucus leader John Larson said: “We have the votes. We are going to make history today.”
Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also told the NBC news network he was confident the party had sufficient votes to pass the measure.
It comes a day after Mr Obama visited Capitol Hill to rally support among party members, saying: “Let’s get this done.”
The Republicans are unanimously opposed to the legislation, which they say is unaffordable and represents a government takeover of a large part of the country’s economy.
Senior House Republican Mike Pence told CNN he was doubtful the Democrats did have the votes needed to approve the bill and said his party would do whatever it could to prevent its passage.
Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, told ABC: “The American people don’t want this to pass. The Republicans don’t want this to pass. There will be no Republican votes for this bill.”
The House will hold three votes - one on a Senate version of a health reform bill, one on a package of changes that would be made to that bill and one on the rules that will govern the debate.
If all three are passed, Mr Obama will be able to sign the legislation into law.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assured House lawmakers on Saturday he had the “commitment of a significant majority” in the Senate to ensure the package of changes the House wants to its bill will pass there.
The BBC’s Richard Lister in Washington says that whatever happens, this will be a significant day in American politics.
Either healthcare will be significantly reformed, he says, or reform will be kicked into the long grass for perhaps decades to come - which could have all kinds of budgetary implications for the future, as the US cannot afford to continue on its existing track.
If passed, the reforms will deliver on Mr Obama’s top domestic priority by providing insurance to some 32 million of the Americans who currently lack coverage.
Deficit reduction
The House of Representatives and the Senate adopted different versions of the bill in November and December.
Opponents of the reform bill say it represents a government takeoverThe usual procedure would be for two versions of legislation to be combined into a single bill for President Obama to sign into law.
But after Senate Democrats lost the 60-seat majority required to defeat a filibuster by Republicans, Democratic leaders decided to use a controversial procedure to ensure the bill’s passage.
Under the plan, the House will vote on a package of reconciliation “fixes” amending the Senate bill.
The Senate will then be able to make changes in a separate bill using a procedure known as reconciliation, which allows budget provisions to be approved with 51 votes - rather than the 60 needed to overcome blocking tactics.
According to Congressional Budget Office, the final version of the Democrats’ healthcare plan will cut the federal deficit by $138bn over 10 years.
The non-partisan body said the proposed legislation would cost about $940bn over a decade.
The reforms would increase insurance coverage through tax credits for the middle class and expansion of the Medicaid programme for the poor.
If approved, they would represent the biggest change in the US healthcare system since the creation in the 1960s of Medicare, the government-run scheme for Americans aged 65 or over
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Socialists expect to maintain their gains in the second roundView this Post in:
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French voters are voting in the final round of regional elections.
In the first round a week ago, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s right-wing UMP party received one of its lowest scores in decades.
The UMP won just over a quarter of the vote, while the opposition Socialists, combined with other Leftist parties, took 50%.
A poll now suggests that 57% of people would like to see a change of government after these regional polls.
Although these elections are meant to be about regional issues such as public transport, high unemployment and resentment over plans to reform several sectors including the judicial and pension systems have prompted many French people to use their ballot to punish the government.
In the first round ballot less than half of France bothered to vote - and that cost President Sarkozy’s right-wing party dearly.
Sarkozy saw a disappointing UMP showing in the first roundAt about midday on Sunday, nearly 19% of France’s 44 million registered voters had cast their ballots, up slightly from the turnout at the same time a week ago.
Many people are angry that Mr Sarkozy’s election promises - to make ordinary people richer and to make France more competitive - have failed to come good, says the BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby in Paris.
With three million people currently out of work, France is now suffering its highest level of unemployment in decades, while a series of unpopular reforms has prompted numerous strikes and protest over recent months.
Mr Sarkozy has suggested the possibility of a pause in the pace of reforms after the elections. He may also reshuffle his cabinet, some analysts have said.
The opposition Socialists, who already control 20 out of the French mainland’s 22 regional councils, have paired up with other Leftists parties and Europe Ecologie - the Greens - for the second round and look certain to keep their lead.
The governing party has been further weakened by a strong showing for the far-right National Front party, despite efforts by the UMP to attract their voters with hard-line policies on immigration and law and order.
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The UN chief has said Israel’s blockade of Gaza is causing “unacceptable suffering,” during a Middle East visit to reinvigorate the peace process.
Ban Ki-moon told Gazans that “we stand with you” as he visited an area damaged by Israel’s offensive 14 months ago.
His visit to the region comes amid tension over Israel’s plans to build more settlements in East Jerusalem.
Rebuilding is difficult due to a lack of building materials during the three-year blockade.
Israel imposed a tightened blockade after the Islamist Hamas movement seized power in June 2007.
Speaking in Gaza, Mr Ban said families were living under “unacceptable, unsustainable conditions”.
Mr Ban said it was “distressing” for him to see damage to housing remaining, with no reconstruction possible under the blockade.
The blockade has prevented the UN from completing housing projects, but Mr Ban pledged to continue providing aid to Gazans.
“My message to people of Gaza is this: the United Nations will stand with you through this ordeal,” he said.
‘Path of non-violence’
Among a list of criticisms of the blockade by Israel and Egypt, Mr Ban said the blockade was counter-productive as it prevented legitimate commerce and encouraged smuggling and extremism.
Mr Ban urged all Gazans to “choose the path of non-violence, Palestinian unity and international legitimacy”.
He also called for a prisoner exchange involving Palestinian prisoners and Israeli soldier Gilat Shilad who was captured by militants in 2006.
His two-day visit is aimed at restarting the peace process, and comes just ahead of a visit by US special representative George Mitchell on Sunday to try to get indirect talks going between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Ahead of Sunday’s Israeli cabinet meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said settlement building would continue.
“The policy of construction in Jerusalem is the same as in Tel Aviv.
“We will continue to build in Jerusalem as we have done for 42 years,” he said, according to AFP news agency.
Clashes
Mr Netanyahu is to travel to Washington on Sunday, where he is expected to meet Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and possibly President Barack Obama.
Also on Sunday, the Israel army said soldiers shot dead two Palestinians who tried to stab a soldier at a checkpoint in the West Bank.
The soldier was on a routine patrol near a security crossing southeast of Nablus.
The deaths bring to four the number of Palestinians killed in the past two days in the occupied West Bank.
A Palestinian teenager was shot dead during clashes near Nablus on Saturday. A second person shot on Saturday died of his injuries on Sunday, West Bank medical officials said.
The army said no live bullets were fired, only tear gas and rubber bullets.
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Pune and Kochi have been announced as the two new franchises in the Indian Premier League.
Pune was bought by Sahara Adventure Sports Group for $370m (£246m) and Kochi went to Rendezvous Sports World Limited for $333m at a Chennai auction.
The two new franchises will join the IPL from 2011, taking the total number of teams to 10.
Earlier this month, the MCC scrapped plans to buy into an IPL franchise and host matches at Lord’s.
The new teams were originally due to be unveiled on 7 March but the process was delayed by two weeks after a dispute over financial clauses.
Sahara and Rendezvous were competing with three other companies, including the Adani Group and VC Digital Solution.
Sahara made bids for Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Pune, before deciding to host its team in the latter.
“The IPL is undoubtedly the most ground-breaking international sports development in living memory,” said Sahara spokesman Abhijit Sarkar. “I can promise the people of Pune a team they will be proud of.”
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi added: “We are absolutely delighted by the overwhelming response to our global Franchise Invitation to Tender process.
“I am also certain that the IPL fans in Kochi and Pune would be particularly excited with an IPL franchise for their respective cities.
“Given the high quality of franchises that we have selected, we are certain that both the new franchises will do everything in their power to ensure good competitive teams for next year.”
Competition to buy the teams reflects the success of the world’s richest cricket league, whose third season is currently underway.
“It’s fantastic that two new teams have come in, it will give more youngsters an opportunity to show their talent and that’s only going to be good for Indian cricket,” said former India captain Sunil Gavaskar.
“The youngsters will not only come into national focus but international focus as well.”
BBC correspondent Rahul Tandon in Kolkata says the IPL has become a multi-billion dollar industry, which attracts some of the country’s wealthiest businessman.
The games feature some of the world’s biggest stars and are played out against a backdrop of razzmatazz, including Bollywood music and cheerleaders for the teams.
“Some of India’s richest men are desperate to be part of India’s first ever successful domestic sports league,” said Tandon.
“It’s not because they love the game.
“It is to get access to the millions of young Indians who every evening watch the IPL at home on their television sets.
“Cricket is big business in one of the world’s fastest growing economies.”
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The victim, Momsen Crudez, a cabin crew member of Northwest Airlines, was staying at the Renaissance Hotel in suburban Powai.
“Last night, an inebriated Momsen opened the window of the lobby of the hotel and went to the terrace. He then jumped out of the terrace which was over 30 feet above ground,” police officials said.
Momsen was rushed to the nearby Hiranandani hospital.
He, however, succumbed to his injuries this afternoon, police said.
A case of accidental death has been registered, police said, adding further investigations are on.
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