Resonant Backstabs Embezzled From A Ball Busting Golf Pro

Editor’s note: Dov Seidman is the author of “HOW: Why HOW We Do Anything Means Everything” and CEO of LRN a company that helps businesses develop values-based corporate cultures. You can follow Dov on Twitter at @DovSeidman and join the HOW community on Facebook.

(CNN) — Our world has rapidly gone from being connected to interconnected to interdependent. When the world is tied together this intimately, everyone’s values and behavior matter more than ever, because our actions affect more people than ever and in ways they never have.

Such was the case when one banker exposed his company’s culture in the New York Times and as a direct result his bank reportedly lost $2.15 billion overnight in market value and a debate erupted on social media over banking industry practices.

Today, “how” we do what we do — our behavior individually and organizationally — not only matters more than ever, it matters in ways it never has before.

The fact that customers can instantly compare price, features, quality and service requires leaders to fundamentally rethink how their organizations operate and how their people conduct business.

Competitive advantage has shifted from what we do to how. Further, we are now asking more of our employees than we ever did in the past. We ask employees to represent their company and nurture its brand, not only when they’re on the job, but whenever they publicly express themselves in tweets, blog posts, emails, or any other social interaction.

We’re asking for distinctly human qualities and behaviors and how leaders elicit and guide those inspired behaviors must shift accordingly.

Here are steps you can take to become a more inspired leader.

Connect and collaborate, don’t command and control

The days of leading companies via a one-way conversation are over. Power has shifted and our leadership must shift with it. The old system of “command and control” to exert power over people is fast being replaced by “connect and collaborate” — to generate power through people. Leaders and managers cannot just impose their will.

Now you have to have a two-way conversation that connects deeply with your colleagues, customers and other stakeholders. Netflix found this out the hard way last year when they lost 800,000 subscribers after arbitrarily increasing prices and splitting up their distribution channels without explaining their actions.

Inspire, don’t only motivate or coerce

There are three ways to get people to do things: coercion, motivation or inspiration. Leaders need to focus more on inspiration and less on coercion and motivation, since external rewards and carrots and sticks have limitations, particularly in hard times when there are fewer carrots to go round.

See also: Want to be a leader? Act like one

Those who have flown on Southwest Airlines can testify how flight attendants are encouraged to flex their creativity and sense of humor when walking passengers through the mundane process of safety procedures. There is no rule book; rather Southwest’s culture inspires its employees to innovate in their behavior. Yet Southwest is the exception rather than the rule.

Business today faces an inspiration deficit as demonstrated recently by “The How Report,” an independent study that my company LRN conducted with the Boston Research Group and Research Data Technology.

The report found that CEOs are six times more likely than “average workers” to believe they work in a company where people are inspired. Employees said they were primarily coerced (84%) or motivated (12%) by carrots and sticks at work rather than inspired by values and a commitment to a mission and purpose (4%).

Yet the study reveals that companies that do inspire their people through values significantly outperform those who don’t. These companies experience higher levels of innovation, employee loyalty, and customer satisfaction, and lower levels of misconduct, employee fear of speaking up, and retaliation.

Behavior as offense, not defense

The most successful sports coaches have shown that behavior is no longer a defensive tactic. Instead, behavior is now an offensive strategy that inspirational leaders need to deploy all over the pitch to create the conditions that result in the game being won, not just being played. There are simply too many shots on goal for them to block in our radically interconnected world. The best defense is to keep the ball.

Behavior has become a powerful source of excellence and competitive advantage. Bosses can no longer get away with telling subordinates, “Just get it done — I don’t care how.” Today’s successful leaders are those who flip the switch and replace task-based jobs (which are about what people must do) with values-based missions (how we get things done).

Extend trust, don’t inspect for it

We live in an era when trust is the currency of the age and the key to a winning business strategy.

But the value of trust lies in finding ways to give it away. A New York City donut maker boosted his productivity and profits through trusting his customers to make their own change, illustrating in practice the inspired behaviors that flow from extending trust.

The extension of trust is the key enabler that inspires others to take the risks that are so essential to spurring innovation. It is in this innovation that real performance and, most importantly, real progress are seen. This is the basic formula for thriving in our hyperconnected, hypertransparent world.

See also: Why we pick bad leaders

Recognize and reward for “how” and not “what”

Leaders and managers should go out of their way to recognize employees for how they do what they do, not for what they do or how much they get done. This could consist of starting their next meeting not by asking “What is on the agenda?” but “How are we going to connect and collaborate to make a difference?”

Or it could be emphasizing a principled decision that a colleague has made for their company in the interests of long-term sustainability at the expense of short-term expediency. Today’s most successful leaders realize the need to relinquish traditional modes of control and set an example to their employees for how they lead, speak and manage performance.

Hire for character, not just skill

“Who” is an anagram of “how” and in a world where “how” matters more than ever, it takes “who” to do “how.” The Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “Character is fate” and it is the responsibility of leaders to enlist employees who can contribute their full character and creativity to perform their best work and whose reason and purpose for going to work every day extends beyond their paycheck.

By inspiring their employees to pursue a higher, more meaningful purpose and achieve real sustainable value, leaders can achieve significance, not just long-term success.

Confucius said over 2,000 years ago: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The leaders who commit their companies to go on a journey to find new ways to innovate in “how” will be those whose organizations thrive, not just survive, in the 21st century.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dov Seidman.

Google on Wednesday announced Knowledge Graph, a significant change to how search results are delivered that the company believes will make their search engine think more like a human.

“The web pages we [currently] return for the search ‘kings,’ they’re all good,” Jack Menzel, director of product management at Google, told CNN in an interview. “You, as a human, associate those words with their real-world meaning but, for a computer, they’re just a random string of characters.”

With Knowledge Graph, which will begin rolling out to some users immediately, results will be arranged according to categories with which the search term has been associated. So, in the above example, boxes will appear with separate results for the hockey team, basketball team and TV show.

Google develops ‘smart glasses’

Mark de Rond, from the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School, spent six weeks studying military surgeons at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

When they are busy, the surgeons are “brutally effective,” says de Rond. But he adds: “The problem is when people don’t have anything to do.”

British soldiers play rugby at Camp Bastion in Helmand province. De Rond says boredom had a destabilizing effect and that when bored, surgeons can become “like big bears — you just don’t want to be around them.”

Sandi Mann, a senior psychology lecturer at the University of Central Lancashire, in England, says boredom is the second most commonly hidden workplace emotion, after anger, and believes modern workplaces are becoming more boring.

“Changes in legislation all the time leads to bureaucratic procedures that people find boring,” she says. “We seem to be in a culture of having meetings, which a lot of people find boring. There are a lot of automated systems now, so a lot of the things we do are quite remote. We have more people working night shifts, which are more boring because you’ve got fewer people to talk to.”

In addition, Mann feels that, as a society, we’re becoming less inclined to tolerate boredom. She says: “People have more of an expectation to be fulfilled by everything they do. Compare our grandparents’ generation: there wasn’t any desire to have self-actualization and to reach their potential. They didn’t go down the coal mines in order to be fulfilled.

“That attitude has changed. Now, we get people quite commonly quitting higher paid jobs for jobs that are lower paid but more satisfying.”

Despite its proliferation, Mann thinks there’s little awareness about boredom, which she deems “the new stress.”

“It’s as stressful as stress but, whereas stress management courses are 10 a penny, organizations are terrified to admit their workers might be bored,” she adds.

See also: Extreme retreats: fire walks and snow survival with your workmates

Last year, Mark de Rond, from the University of Cambridge’s Judge Business School, spent six weeks studying military surgeons at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan. He found that boredom had a destabilizing effect, even on otherwise high-performing individuals.

In his first week, de Rond saw 174 casualties arrive, observed 23 amputations and 134 hours of operating. A good proportion were local children. Although the work is mentally and emotionally demanding, the surgeons are “brutally effective,” he says.

“I don’t think I’ve seen teams more effective than when someone’s bleeding out in Bastion. It’s almost beautiful to watch. They’re so very composed; it’s so noise-free. The problem is when people don’t have anything to do,” says de Rond.

According to de Rond, although there are days when no casualties come in, because the surgeons are on call around the clock, they can never really relax. As they wait for helicopters to bring in casualties, they feel guilty for wishing for more work. They start to compete with each other, become critical of each other’s efforts, and become reflective about the futility of it all. “As they become unhappy, they become like big bears — you just don’t want to be around them,” de Rond says.

A study on the link between counterproductive work behavior and boredom by researchers at Montclair State University and University of South Florida identifies six ways bored employees might harm their organizations: by abusing others, by “production deviance” (purposely failing at tasks), sabotage, withdrawal, theft and horseplay. Of these, the most common is withdrawal (absence, lateness, taking long breaks) says the University of South Florida’s Paul Spector.

He and his co-researchers drew on studies that show that some people are more boredom-prone than others. These people are more likely to get angry, engage in risky driving, display aggression and hostility, and lack honesty and humility.

At the bottom of it all is resentment: “To some extent these behaviors can be the product of someone just getting back at the employer, blaming the employer for creating boring conditions, and trying to strike back,” Spector says.

He adds that there’s little correlation between workload and boredom. “You can be very busy and still be bored. And you could be distressed even though you’re not all that busy — if you just hate what you’re doing.”

De Rond has also seen a kind of “existential” boredom manifest in professional services firms. “That’s not a result of having nothing to do — they have nothing worthwhile to do.”

See also: Why ambition could make you rich, but not happy

The solution, according to de Rond, is “disarmingly straightforward.” “Provided everyone is capable, all you have to do is to give people something to care about more than themselves,” he says.

Bastion provides an example. “You’ve got casualties coming in who will die if you don’t do something quickly — that is more important than yourself, at that point. Teams work incredibly effectively when that happens,” he says.

To replicate this effect, leaders need to explain to teams “why what they do is important, who it matters to and why.” “It’s that that keeps a team focused,” de Rond says. “Otherwise it’s just work.”

De Rond also believes it’s necessary for workplaces to engineer a culture of “psychological safety” in which “it’s okay to ask questions.”

Allowing employees to air the doubts and anxieties that arise when they are bored is, he notes, “a very frightening thing” for organizations to do. “Most people would suspect that if you start questioning protocol, you then eat into morale.”

But in an environment of psychological safety, he theorizes, “what you should see is some of the vulnerability of the people involved. It’s where people can be okay with that, instead of being defensive about it. If anything, it should really boost morale.”

Sarah Chang is cited among the best violinists performing in the world today. Since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of eight, she has appeared across the music capitals of Asia, Europe and America.

Now 31 years old, Chang picked up the violin when she was just four, having already grown tired of the household piano. Quickly recognized as a child prodigy, Chang had signed to EMI Classics before she’d even reached double digits.

Still in her early 20s, Chang is seen here clutching her priceless 17th-century “Guarneri del Gesu” violin, given to her as a present by the late Ukrainian violinist and conductor Isaac Stern, who had a reputation for discovering new talent.

A life dedicated to the formality of classical music is very different from a life led in the frenetic city of Buenos Aires — where racy murals decorate the streets and the sound of tango music echoes in the air. But this is where Chang had chosen to fly for her Fusion Journey.

There she met with local ensemble “Orquesta Tipica Andariega” (pictured), a band steeped in the traditions of tango. Together they would create a new piece of music inspired by this meeting of cultures.

But first Chang, who confesses to be the owner of “two left feet,” would take a lesson in the other side of tango — dance. Over the course of her practice, she discovered that the dance moves have an “intimate relationship with the music,” which she would later draw on to enhance her musical performance.

Out of her customary ball gown, Chang donned an outfit more befitting of a small local tango club, hidden along a narrow backstreet in Buenos Aires.

Here, accompanied by “Orquesta Tipica Andariega,” she performed a tango standard, incorporating a solo violinist twist adapted especially for the fusion. Looking back, she says she was touched by the intimacy between the performers and the audience — an experience she is unfamiliar with in the world’s giant concert halls.

Now, she says she tries to retain that Buenos Aires-style intimacy wherever she plays. “I try to connect with every single last person in the balcony on an emotional and personal level.”

Editor’s note: Part culture show, part travel show, over six weeks Fusion Journeys takes six stars of the creative world on a journey of discovery to a location of their choice. There, they will learn from a different culture and create something new inspired by their experience. Watch the show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from April 9 to May 18, during Connect The World, from 20:00 GMT.

(CNN) — Since her debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of eight, Sarah Chang has grown through the weight of expectation to become one of the world’s great violinists.

Now aged 31, Chang was born in Philadelphia to a composer and music teacher of Korean descent. She first dabbled with the piano at the age of three, before opting for the violin a year later. By five she had been accepted into New York’s prestigious Juilliard School for Performing Arts.

By her own acknowledgment, the world of grand orchestras and opera houses that she has so long inhabited can be “very formal” and “exclusive.” This perhaps goes some way to explain her choice of destination for her “Fusion Journey” challenge: Buenos Aires.

Here, in the hot-blooded Argentinean capital, she would meet with local band “Orquesta Tipica Andariega,” to learn first-hand the sensual and mysterious art of tango.

See more Fusion Journeys

During her visit, Chang was challenged to produce a fusion of sound that blended the traditions of Western classical music with tango’s emotionally raw and folksy heritage. She says that the process has given her performance a new-found sense of intimacy that she’s carried ever since.

In her own words, Chang tells the story of her Fusion Journey.

Sarah Chang: I’ve been trained as a classical violinist my entire life. It’s all about structure, all about technique. It’s very much a polished profession. But tango music, although it has some classical elements, is very sexy and rough and, in a way, from the earth.

When you walk along the streets of Buenos Aires, fun is in the air. You see children with barely anything on their feet playing soccer, and there is music on every corner. They are playing all sorts of Latin sounds; they’re all dancing and drinking; they’re enjoying life; they are loving life.

One of the cornerstones of tango is definitely the dancing, so I first met up with dance instructor Nora Schvartz.

Now, I’m not really a dancer. I’m a very physical performer when I’m on stage, but of course tango is a completely different thing to thrusting around when you’re performing as a violinist.

I learned that the best tango dancers move not just with their legs and arms, but from their guts. That’s the sign of a true art form, and it’s the source of so much beauty, so much soul and passion.

Even though I absolutely cannot dance — just watch the footage! — I always thought that to experience the whole picture, you really have to open up your vulnerabilities, and sort of take that risk.

Read related: Photographer’s Lapland journey highlights global warming

Tango is — in a sense — imperfect … albeit beautifully imperfect. It’s not about being always metronomically on time, it’s about spontaneity and freedom.

I’ve worked, of course, with a piano and an orchestra before — but never with a band. All of a sudden I find myself rehearsing with the “Orquesta Tipica Andariega,” an extremely talented local tango group. So there I was, playing songs I’d never played before, alongside instruments I’d never heard before, with a group I’d never met before — it was thrilling!

The piece we chose for our fusion was by Carlos Gardel — the biggest name in the history of tango. The tune itself is very famous — it’s used in all these movies, you name it, any famous tango scene. But as far as I know, there is no version for a band with a solo violinist, so I asked a composer friend of mine to make an arrangement for us.

I was really thrilled with the result. We performed it in this intimate little club and it felt so immediate. Everyone was there, drinking wine, dancing, looking so happy. There were no rigid rules, none of this “clap here, oh you have to be quiet here.” Instead, the audience were whistling and yelling and clapping along — it felt like they were right up there with us.

Literally, if I just stretched my arm, I could touch them, they were so close. That sort of intimacy, that sort of physical closeness, the fact that they were dancing when we were playing, I just thought was so beautiful.

“Fusions” can often turn out badly — I can think of some fusion cuisine that I wish I could forget! But when each side brings just the right balance of their experience, their culture and personality, then I think it can be magical — and the only way you know it has worked is when everyone has a smile on their face.

Classical music is one of the world’s longest-standing traditional forms of music-making out there — and I don’t think it will, or should, change over night. There is a sort of purity in what classical musicians do that I cherish very much and want to preserve.

But the big thing that I really took from this experience is that sense of connecting with the audience. Quite often, in grand concert halls where everyone is wearing elegant ball gowns and black tails — that kind of old-Hollywood glamor — it can feel like there is a big distance between the audience and the performers, a sense of “look, but don’t touch.”

But with Argentinean tango, it’s the opposite. They are saying “please touch, please come into and share my world.” Now, every concert that I do, I try to utilize that, I try to connect with every single last person in the balcony on an emotional and personal level.

Toronto (CNN) — Jenna Talackova, the 23-year-old woman who forced Donald Trump and his Miss Universe Canada pageant to end its ban on transgender contestants, is set to take the stage Saturday night and she says she’s in it to win.

But in an interview with CNN several hours before showtime, the 6-foot-1 blonde Canadian seemed a bit weary, because the spotlight is still squarely on her gender transformation.

“Like I always say, my family didn’t understand, so why would I expect anybody else to understand and then they got to know me and they loved me,” Talackova said.

Talackova was born a boy with the name Walter, but she said she felt more like a girl by the age 4. By 14, she convinced her family that she should start taking steps to physically become a woman, she said. She began hormone therapy as a teenager and had gender reassignment surgery four years ago when she was 19.

It was then she pursued her dream of competing in a pageant. While she made it as a finalist in the Miss Universe Canada competition earlier this year, her gender history meant she was disqualified for not being a “natural born woman.”

Talackova then hired women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred, and the pageant’s co-owner, Donald Trump, was left with no choice but to change the rules and let Talackova compete.

“I’m not interested in having arguments with Donald Trump. I’m here to focus on Jenna and what she has won. And it’s been extremely important and it really is a civil rights victory, and she has earned the right to claim that victory,” Allred told CNN in an interview in Toronto after Thursday’s preliminary competition.

Some women’s rights advocates agree, saying Talackova’s participation is in keeping with the principles of feminism and equality.

“I’ll preamble this by saying that I’m not a huge fan of beauty pageants to begin with, but I do think that she will have an impact purely for participating. I mean, let’s face it, she’s beautiful, and it does challenge society’s perception of what is normal,” said Leah Eichler, a Canadian columnist and the founder of “Femme-O-Nomics,” a media and networking company targeting professional women.

Eichler said she worries that the pageant is staging an opportunistic publicity stunt, something organizers deny.

“You know Jenna’s a delightful young lady as are the other 61 contenders. They have substance and they all have something to offer. And I think that everyone should be allowed to try. We don’t know who’s going to win, but give it your best shot,” said Andrew Lopez, one of the organizers of Miss Universe Canada.

As for Talackova, she said her entry in the competition is about equality, even if some believe pageants are demeaning.

“The power that you get for having the crown you can inspire so many people, so if I have to walk in a bikini for that, I will,” Talackova said.

Actress and model Pamela Anderson is fronting the Downforce1 racing team, which plans to compete in the 2012 European Le Mans and International GT Open series.

The Canadian star is pictured here with Markus Fux, the team’s sole driver who also doubles up as Downforce1′s marketing coordinator.

The former Playboy model gets a closer look at the car with German socialite Marcus Prinz von Anhalt. The car was due to enter its first race at an International GT race in France this weekend, but Downforce1 announced it had decided not to enter.

Anderson shot to fame in the hit U.S. TV show Baywatch, in which she played lifeguard C.J. Parker between 1992 and 1998.

Anderson is not the first female celebrity to enter motorsport. Socialite Paris Hilton co-founded the SuperMartxe VIP MotoGP team in December 2010.

“Fast cars and fast women go together,” the former Playmate of the Month said on the team’s website. “Here we are surrounded by men, I love it.”

The Canadian is described as a fan of motorsport divisions “from NASCAR to Formula One” and hailed the venture as “a dream come true.”

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Anderson is not the first female celebrity to be drawn to the track. Socialite Paris Hilton, heiress to the Hilton hotel fortune, co-founded the SuperMartxe VIP MotoGP team in December 2010.

Toledo, Ohio (CNN) — Wanda Butts dropped the phone and screamed when she heard the news that her son was dead.

Josh had drowned while rafting on a lake with friends. The 16-year-old didn’t know how to swim, and he wasn’t wearing a life jacket.

“I couldn’t believe it, I didn’t want to believe it: that just like that, my son had drowned and he was gone,” she said, recalling the 2006 tragedy.

Butts had worried about her son’s safety when it came to street violence or driving, and she said she had always warned him of those dangers. But water accidents never crossed her mind.

“It did not occur to me that my son would drown because he didn’t know water safety,” she said. “Josh was never taught the basic life skill of learning how to swim.”

Josh was not alone in the black community. According to USA Swimming, 70% of African-American children cannot swim, compared with nearly 60% for Hispanic children and 42% for white children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-American children between the ages of 5 and 14 are three times more likely to drown than white children in the same age range.

As Butts tried to make sense of her son’s tragedy, she realized she had passed her own inexperience to her son. Her father had witnessed a drowning when he was young and instilled in her a fear of water.

Giving kids a lifesaving skill

Because of this fear, Butts raised Josh without any exposure to water. But today, she is determined to prevent other mothers from doing the same. In 2007, she started the Josh Project, a nonprofit that provides low-cost swimming lessons for children in Toledo, Ohio.

“After losing my son, I wanted to do something to help other people, to help another mother not have to suffer the way I do every day from the loss of a child drowning,” she said.

To date, the Josh Project has helped more than 1,000 children learn how to swim.

“All children are at risk of drowning, but the majority of the children that the Josh Project serves are minority children, who we have found are more at risk,” Butts said.

Several cultural and historical factors can help explain why that is. One is the segregation of swimming pools during the 20th century, according to Jeff Wiltse, author of “Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America.” Relatively few swimming pools were built to serve the black community back then, so much of a generation was denied the opportunity to swim, Wiltse told the BBC.

Also, if parents can’t swim, their children are far less likely to learn how, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Memphis. The study, sponsored by USA Swimming, found that a fear of drowning and a fear of injury prevent many African-American parents from putting their children in swimming lessons. It also found that many avoid swimming for cosmetic reasons, such as the effect chlorinated water has on their hair.

Do you know a hero? Nominations are open for 2012 CNN Heroes

For some families today, it’s still tough to find an accessible pool.

“The public pools near our home have been closed in the past, and other places were not affordable,” said Lisa Haynes, whose 14-year-old son, Joshua, is one of 60-plus students in the Josh Project this season.

The swimming lessons take place at a local high school over four Saturdays for a total cost of $10.

“I am less worried if (Joshua) is near water because he has the basics of how to swim,” Haynes said. “And we’re thankful for that.”

Butts is doing much more, however, than just providing swimming lessons.

“She ups the awareness, and that is half the battle,” said Shaun Anderson, a swimming coach who was so inspired by her story that he created a Josh Project swimming program at Norfolk State University in Virginia. “Once these communities learn how to swim, they will pass it down, which results in future generations that know how to swim.”

Butts said she has two goals for the future: One is to change the drowning statistics of minority children, and the other is to have an aquatic center where the children can swim daily instead of just once a week.

“The joy on the faces of those children — when they see that they can learn, once they get it — they are so happy with themselves,” she said. “And it’s like all of them are my children. It’s like I didn’t lose my son.”

Want to get involved? Check out the Josh Project website at www.joshproject.org and see how to help.

Google on Wednesday announced Knowledge Graph, a significant change to how search results are delivered that the company believes will make their search engine think more like a human.

“The web pages we [currently] return for the search ‘kings,’ they’re all good,” Jack Menzel, director of product management at Google, told CNN in an interview. “You, as a human, associate those words with their real-world meaning but, for a computer, they’re just a random string of characters.”

With Knowledge Graph, which will begin rolling out to some users immediately, results will be arranged according to categories with which the search term has been associated. So, in the above example, boxes will appear with separate results for the hockey team, basketball team and TV show.

Google develops ‘smart glasses’

Editor’s note: Omar L. Gallaga is a tech-culture reporter for the Austin American-Statesman and a technology contributor to CNN.com, NPR and Kirkus Reviews.

(CNN) — Flush with cash and drunk with power after its $100 billion IPO, Facebook could be caught secretly brainwashing millions of new users into signing up (mind-control hoodies, anyone?) — and still I might not quit the world’s largest social network.

Ridiculous scenario aside, I’m pretty serious. Despite ongoing privacy concerns and rumblings of a backlash, it would take something drastic to make me leave Facebook at this point.

More than just a daily habit, Facebook has become the place where I get important, often surprising glimpses into the lives of the 1,365 people with whom I’ve chosen to connect. (That’s not counting friends-of-friends, for Facebook’s tentacles are ever-extended).

I’m not always in love with Facebook, of course. I get frustrated with the social network like everyone else. Every six months, Facebook introduces some huge new design of its site or engages in privacy-eroding practices that send many of its users howling into the status-update box.

They threaten to shut down their accounts, write furious blog posts and organize ridiculous movements such as Quit Facebook Day, which got less than 40,000 people to commit to deleting themselves — a tiny fraction of the network even back in 2010.

But, in large part, the people who say they’re leaving Facebook don’t. Or they quit and come back.

Me, I’m staying put. At this point, complaining about Facebook is like grousing about the electric company while watching TV, or saying how lousy politicians are but forgetting to vote. Facebook just is. It’s become an institution — one that’s going to be around for a long while — and all the missteps it’s made in its young, eight-year life have never prompted significant user defection.

Facebook is on track to hit a billion users sometime this year. A billion people. With just a few exceptions, that includes nearly every person I have ever worked with, a big chunk of my extended family, most of my friends going all the way back to elementary school and probably all the kids who were in my nursery at the hospital where I was born.

There’s critical mass, and then there’s Facebook, the Death Star that deflects every effort to blow it up. Facebook has won the social-media wars because it’s where all the people are. Those who have been waiting for something else to take its place, the way Facebook siphoned off the population of MySpace about five years ago, are still waiting. MySpace, even at its peak, never had the mainstream acceptance and durability of Facebook.

Facebook’s rise to the top

Would-be competitors who have tried to take on Facebook have largely failed to gain traction. Path, which has a lovely interface and is more focused on smaller circles of friends, just hit 2 million users a few months ago. And Diaspora, the open-source, nonprofit that was supposed to threaten Facebook’s laissez-faire attitude toward privacy, has yet to crack half a million users.

Once Facebook has shareholders to answer to, things may change. But perhaps not as much as you’d expect. At a South by Southwest Interactive event in 2008, I saw Zuckerberg speak about his company to application developers. Even then, he stressed that the future of Facebook was not as a website or tool, but as a global communication platform upon which other things would be built. It’s been amazing to observe how little he’s veered from that vision during four years of astronomical growth.

If something is ever going to take the place of Facebook once the company gets so big and complacent that it loses focus, it will probably be something built on top of Facebook. Perhaps a mobile app that accesses the social network’s huge population, something Facebook-adjacent that takes what people like about Facebook and turns it into something more nimble and attractive than Facebook itself.

Maybe then I’ll think about pulling up stakes. Until then, I’m not leaving.

(CNN) — A British Columbia man who held authorities at bay for more than six hours after allegedly strapping explosives to his body is presumed dead after the house he was holed up in exploded, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Friday.

The 48-year-old man, who was not immediately identified, is accused of storming his ex-girlfriend’s home in the town of Kamloops, northeast of Vancouver, and taking her hostage, according to an incident report released by authorities.

The man told police he had explosives strapped to his body and to the gas tank of his van.

“The suspect, who is an electrician by trade, provided specific details to the negotiator regarding how the explosives were wired and how he would be able to detonate the devices remotely,” the report said.

The incident began Thursday night when the man forced his way into the house and fired a shot into the ceiling, ordering the woman’s four children and her new boyfriend out of the house, the report said. He then held the woman hostage at gunpoint, it said.

“Negotiators learned that the man was still distraught over the break up with his former girlfriend two years earlier,” the report said.

Authorities evacuated 15 houses in the neighborhood, police said.

Shortly after midnight, hostage negotiators persuaded the man to release his ex-girlfriend, whose identity was not released.

“The man continued to speak with the negotiator. But ten minutes after the woman had been released, the telephone line went silent,” the report said.

“Officers on the scene heard two rapid explosions erupt from within the house and a smoke detector alarm was set off.”

A third, larger explosion followed, rattling houses in the neighborhood, police said.

While firefighters attempted to battle the house fire, members of the bomb squad found another bomb in the man’s van.

“In the back, they could see a five gallon gas can and a 20 lb. propane cylinder,” police said.

Once firefighters got the fire under control, the bomb squad used a small, remote-controlled robot to “neutralize” the bomb, the report said.

“Investigators will start the arduous task of sifting through the rubble looking for the remains of the suspect and other evidence related to the explosions from within the house,” the report said.

Neighbor Vern Reynolds, 79, told CNN affiliate CTV the first indication there was something wrong at the house was the sound of a gun shot. That was followed by the arrival of more than a dozen police cars.

“Shocking, shocking, shocking. That’s what it is,” Reynolds said Friday afternoon. “This is just disbelief, disbelief.”

Another neighbour Simon Harry said the four children took refuge in his home in the cul-de-sac while authorities negotiated for their mother’s release.

“I just can’t believe something like that was actually happening,” he told CTV.

CNN’s Jake Carpenter contributed to this report.

Editor’s note: Each month, Inside the Middle East takes you behind the headlines to see a different side of this diverse region. Follow us on on Twitter: Presenter Rima Maktabi: @rimamaktabi, producer Jon Jensen: @jonjensen and writer Cat Davies @catrionadavies

Doha, Qatar (CNN) — Bahiya Al-Hamad is a 19-year-old college student and air-rifle shooter who is about to make history for her country.

When she travels to London to take part in the Olympic Games this summer, she will be part of the first group of Qatari women ever to compete at the Olympics.

Qatar is one of only three countries — the others are Saudi Arabia and Brunei — which have never sent female athletes to an Olympics Games. This year, three women will represent Qatar at London 2012. The others are swimmer Nada Arkaji and sprinter Noor al-Malki.

All three women have been given wild cards, but there is still a weight of expectation that is not lost of Al-Hamad.

“It’s an accomplishment for every Qatari woman,” she said. “I hope I can live up to their expectation.”

Training at her shooting club outside Qatar’s capital Doha, Al-Hamad added: “Every athlete’s dream is to reach the Olympics.”

Competing in London in July and August will be a high point in her life as well as a historic moment for Qatar. “I will be very excited to go see the atmosphere there and it will sure be one the most special days of my life,” she said.

Qatar’s first female Olympians

See also: Will Saudi women make Olympics debut?

One of her shooting club colleagues, Ali Rashid al-Mohannadi, 21, Gulf and Arab champion, and a senior engineering student, said he has nothing but respect for Al-Hamad.

“I think women now are better than us,” he said. “I’m very happy, because she’s a talented shooter. I’m very happy for her, and I hope she does well in the Olympic Games.”

However, not everyone in his socially conservative country feel the same.

“I feel men don’t realize the idea yet, but it depends,” said Al-Hamad. “Some of them are OK with it, some are not. They say ‘you’re a girl and you shoot?’”

She added: “Before, shooting was only for guys but now it became normal for females to an extent. When they saw women emerging in shooting they became a little bit more accepting.”

Also on Inside the Middle East: Iraqi artist inspired by George W Bush shoe thrower

Al-Hamad, who is in her foundation year at Qatar University, is now training two hours a day, five days a week with her Uzbeki coach to be ready to compete alongside the world’s greatest 10-meter rifle shooters.

“We participated in the junior Olympic Games in Singapore two years back but the result was not good,” said her coach, Ivan Shahov. “But I hope with this Olympic Games we have a chance.”

Ivan Ljubicic bows out of the Monte Carlo Masters and leaves the stage of men’s professional tennis for the last time at the age of 33.

ATP chief Brad Drewett (L) and director Zeljiko Franulovic present the Croatian with a special trophy and gift to mark his retirement from tennis. Drewett described Ljubicic as “a true gentleman and ever popular amongst his peers.”

Ljubicic and wife Aida (holding their son Leonardo) with Slavica Radic, a fellow Croatian who is the former spouse of Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Ljubicic — seen here giving tips to Rocco, the son of his coach Riccardo Piatti, at the 2008 French Open — also has a daughter Zara, who was born in November 2011.

Two seasons ago, a 31-year-old Ljubicic defied critics and age to triumph at the prestigious Indian Wells Masters tournment in California. The win made him the oldest first-time winner of an ATP Masters 1000 event.

Ljubicic reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world in 2006 — a year in which he won three ATP titles, including this one in Vienna. “I felt like I was No. 1 because at the time it was impossible to get to (Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal). It is something I am really proud of. I felt like the No. 1 of normal people,” he said.

Croatia’s team of (L-R) Mario Ancic, Goran Ivanisevic, Ljubicic, Ivo Karlovic hold the Davis Cup trophy aloft for the first and only time so far after defeating Slovakia 3-2 in Bratislava in 2005.

The victorious team parade a replica Davis Cup trophy in the main square in Zagreb.

One of Ljubicic’s finest moments on a tennis court came when he and Ancic secured a bronze medal for Croatia at the 2004 Athens Olympics in the men’s doubles.

Fmr. #3 tennis player calls it a career

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Novak Djokovic under the spotlight

Tipsarevic mentors young tennis stars

Federer hails ‘wonderful friend’ Ljubicic

Ljubicic bagged 10 ATP Tour titles during a 14-year career, his last coming in 2010 at the Indian Wells Masters in California when he beat American former world No. 1 Andy Roddick in the final.

It was a deeply satisfying result for Ljubicic who, at the age of 31, became the oldest first-time winner of an ATP Tour Masters 1000 title in history.

But his success wasn’t limited to individual events.

Together with Mario Ancic, Goran Ivanisevic and Ivo Karlovic, Ljubicic was part of Croatia’s victorious 2005 Davis Cup team, becoming the only unseeded country to win the event.

The dramatic 3-2 victory over Slovakia sparked wild celebrations in Zagreb’s main square and followed on from a bronze medal he and Ancic won in the doubles at the Athens Olympics the previous summer.

Both occasions were proud moments for Ljubicic who was forced to flee his home as a 13-year-old in May 1992 as Croatia battled to maintain the independence it declared the previous year.

“I was living in the Serbian part of Bosnia, so it wasn’t a pleasant place to be at that moment,” he recalls.

“I left with my mother and my brother. My father stayed, but he managed to get out in November the same year.”

It was during this time that Ljubicic was invited to attend a tennis club in Moncalieri, a town near Turin in northern Italy.

“It was the beginning of my tennis career,” he says. “My parents thought it was a good idea, so I left Bosnia in 1993 and stayed for three years and in 1996 I started to have some good results.”

An appearance in the Wimbledon juniors’ final the same year was followed by his first sponsorship deal, marking his arrival in the professional ranks.

A decade later, Ljubicic would reach the pinnacle of his career, rising to third in the world rankings behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal — an achievement which remains a tremendous source of pride.

“I felt like I was No. 1 because at the time it was impossible to get to these guys. It is something I am really proud of. I felt like the No. 1 of normal people,” he said.

With their opposing personalities and playing styles, he says Federer and Nadal have created a unique era in tennis which will be difficult for a new generation to repeat.

“In the past we had a little bit of that with Agassi and Sampras but they were both American. Now we have a Swiss guy and a Spanish guy,” Ljubicic said.

And with current No. 1 Djokovic “coming from another world at the moment” — these are great times for tennis, he thinks.

Ljubicic recalls practicing with an 18-year-old Djokovic back in 2005 and wasn’t immediately struck by the Serbian’s game technically.

But what he did observe, even at that young age, was a steely determination.

“Mentally he was ready. You could see it when you met him. He was so ready to be the best player that you could see it was going to happen, one way or the other,” Ljubicic said.

He predicts the top three will continue to dominate for another couple of seasons but with youngsters like Canada’s Milos Raonic, Australia’s Bernard Tomic and American Ryan Harrison coming through, a more varied set of grand slam champions looks set to emerge.

For Ljubicic, the labors of the tennis court may now be over, but family responsibilities at his home in Monte Carlo will more than fill that void.

“I have two kids now — a three-and-a-half-year-old boy and a girl who is four months,” he said.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time together. This period before they go to school is special and I want to spend as much time as possible with them.”

Real Madrid captain Iker Casillas lifts the Spanish Primera Division trophy after Jose Mourinho’s team defeated Mallorca 4-1 on Sunday. The 32-time Spanish champions finished the season with 100 points, a record amount.

Villarreal midfielder Marcos Senna cut a forlorn figure after a 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid condemned the 2006 European Champions League semifinalists to relegation from the Spanish top flight.

Manchester City beat archrivals and neighbors Manchester United to the English Premier League title on goal difference, after two goals in stoppage gave Roberto Mancini’s side a 3-2 victory against Queens Park Rangers.

Defeat in Manchester would have sent QPR down, if Bolton Wanderers had beaten Stoke City. But Owen Coyle’s team could only draw 2-2 at the Britannia Stadium, a result which ended Bolton’s 11-year stay in the Premier League.

Veteran striker Alessandro del Piero celebrated his final game for Juventus in style, scoring as the Italian champions beat Atalanta 3-1. Juventus were undefeated throughout the 38-game league season.

Filippo Inzaghi marked his final game for AC Milan in similar style to Del Piero, netting the winner in a 2-1 defeat of Novara. Milan finished second, four points behind Juve.

Borussia Dortmund were crowned champions of Germany for a second year in a row, with Jurgen Klopp’s side finishing eight points ahead of Champions League finalists Bayern Munich.

At the bottom of the Bundesliga, Hertha Berlin were relegated after losing a two-legged playoff against Fortuna Dusseldorf 4-3 on aggregate. The result means Fortuna, who finished third in Bundesliga 2, will return to the top flight next season for the first time in 15 years.

Manchester City scored two goals in stoppage time to beat Queens Park Rangers 3-2 and pip neighbors Manchester United to the English Premier League title on goal difference.

Fans celebrate Manchester City’s big win

Did City win the title – or did United lose it?

But in a dramatic finale Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero scored in the 92nd and 94th minutes to hand Roberto Mancini’s City a first championship in 44 years.

QPR were battling against relegation, but their top-flight status was secured after Bolton Wanderers could only draw 2-2 with Stoke City.

Bolton needed to win to remain in the division, but the draw meant they were demoted alongside Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Behind City and United, Arsenal beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 to secure the third and final automatic qualification berth for next season’s Champions League.

Tottenham Hotspur finished fourth and Harry Redknapp’s team will play in Europe’s elite club competition next season if Chelsea, who placed sixth, lose to Bayern Munich in Saturday’s Champions League final.

Top goalscorer: Robin van Persie, Arsenal – 30

Italy

Champions Juventus finished with a 3-1 victory over Atalanta, a win which meant the Turin club were undefeated throughout the entire 38-game Serie A season.

Manchester City wins EPL

It all began in a Harvard dorm room in 2004. Mark Zuckerberg and fellow students Dustin Moskovitz, Chris Hughes and Eduardo Saverin start what then was known as Thefacebook. The social-networking site spreads to other Ivy League universities the next month.

Zuckerberg and his partners move Facebook’s base of operations to Palo Alto, California, where they meet former Napster co-founder Sean Parker. The savvy, hard-partying Parker becomes an early partner (and later president) of Facebook and helps attract investors to the fledgling network.

The company drops the “the” from its name after Parker pays $200,000 for Internet address Facebook.com. Facebook has grown to include students from more than 1,000 colleges and universities and is opening to high schools.

Facebook opens to anyone older than 13 with a valid e-mail address. That same month, the site introduces its News Feed, which highlights updates, photos, etc., from friends within your network. Users revolt, starting petitions to change Facebook back, although — as with most Facebook changes — they eventually grow to embrace the feature.

Microsoft purchases a 1.6% share of Facebook for $240 million, valuing the company at about $15 billion. The deal comes after other Internet giants, including Google and Yahoo, failed to buy all or part of Facebook. By now, more than half the site’s users live outside the United States.

Facebook hits 100 million users. The same year, it surpasses MySpace to become the world’s most popular social network.

One month after acquiring rival network FriendFeed, Zuckerberg announces Facebook has begun turning a profit for the first time.

Facebook introduces the Like button, which is quickly adopted by the thousands of news and retail sites that integrate with the social network. Some users complain there should be a “Dislike” button, too. Despite growing user concerns over privacy, Facebook hits half a billion users three months later.

“The Social Network,” David Fincher’s movie about the founding of Facebook, hits theaters, making Mark Zuckerberg a household name. The film is a critical and commercial hit, earning $225 million worldwide and winning three Oscars. Zuckerberg calls the movie a largely inaccurate dramatization but says it gets his casual wardrobe right.

Facebook rolls out Timeline, a redesign to the site’s user profile pages, amid ever-present complaints about the changes. But Zuckerberg’s not worried — by this time the site has 800 million active users, half of whom log in every day.

Facebook buys the photo-sharing app Instagram for $1 billion.

Facebook prepares to become a publicly traded company, raising billions of dollars from investors. The company says it expects to price its shares at $34 to $38 each, potentially valuing Facebook at more than $100 billion. Based on his stake, Zuckerberg himself will likely be worth more than $15 billion.

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As Facebook hits Wall Street this week with a public stock offering that could value the company at more than $100 billion, investors appear dazzled by the company’s uncanny ability to put the right advertisements in front of its roughly 900 million users.

Top 10 reasons not to buy Facebook

Explain it to me: IPOs

Astonishing rise of Facebook

CNNMoney: You’re only worth $1.21 (per quarter) to Facebook

How targeted ads work

For example, say a woman who has listed her hometown as New Orleans changes her relationship status from “single” to “engaged.” Facebook suddenly has a hot prospect to offer up to a bridal retailer or caterer in the Big Easy. To dig deeper, if she lists her MBA from Loyola and has “liked” pages for, say, Saks Fifth Avenue and Mercedes Benz, you get a fuller picture of how much she might be willing to spend.

“With a reported 901 million members, Facebook is a great test bed for understanding consumers and their purchasing interests,” said Jan Rezab, CEO of Socialbakers, a social-media analytics firm. “Before Facebook, marketers relied on online surveys or focus groups to determine customer interest. Now, they can reach the customer directly on their Facebook page.”

Facebook doesn’t publicly give away the details of how its system works. But as it has begun wooing potential investors, the company has been more willing to talk about its advertising approach.

Dan Rose, Facebook vice president of partnerships and platform marketing, discussed the appeal of its social ads at an event recently in Austin, Texas.

According to research from Pew, the average Facebook user has 229 friends. When that user likes a product or company’s ad, it serves as an endorsement to those friends from someone they know and, presumably, trust.

“When I raise my hand and say, I like Einstein (Bros.) bagels, and then one of my friends sees that ad, they’re going to see my name in that ad,” Rose said. Through Facebook’s partnership with the media-research firm Nielsen, “We found that when my friend’s name is in an ad, I’m over 60% more likely to remember the ad, and I’m over four times more likely to purchase the product,” he said.

“This is word of mouth. This is word of mouth at scale. This is what, as marketers, we’ve always been trying to bottle up and find a way to take advantage of. And the social Web is finally allowing us to do that.”

Facebook’s rise to the top

Should you ‘like’ the Facebook stock?

MYB: Facebook looks to diversify board

Are you living without Facebook?

User data and privacy

Not that the model hasn’t made some folks antsy. Time and again, tweaks to Facebook’s privacy settings have prompted user backlash, occasionally to the point that the site has reversed or modified those changes.

According to a recent Associated Press/CNBC poll, three out of five users say they have little or no faith that the company will protect their personal information. Half of those who use the site daily say they wouldn’t make a purchase through it and 57% of all users claimed they never click on ads or other sponsored content.

On a page about its advertising approach, Facebook makes it clear that it never sells user data, saying that “if you don’t feel like you’re in control of who sees what you share, you probably won’t use Facebook as much, and you’ll share less with your friends.”

Facebook officials also emphasize that while advertisers can market to specific users, they don’t receive the data that was used to make the selection and never know the actual names of the people they’ve reached. Facebook’s policy is to not actually look at user data except to check whether someone is violating the site’s terms of service.

Doubling down on user satisfaction is the most important thing Facebook can do, Bhatia said, even if it occasionally means passing up chances to max out the amount it could earn on the data users provide.

“For them, the user experience does come first and I think that’s the right strategy for the long term,” he said. “Along the way, putting the user experience first makes a lot of longer-term business sense.”

As an analyst, Bhatia is bullish on Facebook, leading the pack with an early “buy” rating at the beginning of this month. With Facebook reportedly looking at expanding into China and at monetizing its mobile app (an untapped resource even though the majority of time on the site is now spent on mobile devices) he expects its data-driven model to keep making money well into the future.

“Facebook is going to become just like search, [which] disrupted online advertising,” he said. “What Google did eight years ago — that is what Facebook is doing now. The reach is unparalleled and they’re just scratching the surface.”

Song Byeok’s paintings are often about coming to terms with life outside North Korea. Behind him is the painting “Child Warrior,” depicting the curious North Korean custom of dressing children in military clothes on special birthdays. Song painted the boy with his eyes closed.

“I risked my life on this painting,” Song says of “Take Off Your Clothes,” which created a stir by putting the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in a Marilyn Monroe pose. “In some ways, this picture represents me,” Song said. “I hope after North Korean society opens up, people will debate it.” It is used on this poster to promote Song’s recent exhibit in Atlanta.

North Korea built hundreds of statues of Kim Il Sung, founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In “Beloved Father of Our Country,” women in drab military clothing pay tribute to their “Great Leader.”

It was only after he lived outside North Korea that Song began to understand freedom and why it was so important. This, Song says, is his main message as an artist.

Like much of Song’s work, this painting, “Hope,” is about the desire for a better future for his homeland. “Defectors naturally want to help things inside North Korea change,” he said. “My way of doing that is to paint.”

A work done in classic Tang Dynasty style, “Around the Tumen River” looks as if it could have been painted centuries ago. But an up-close view reveals the hard realities of life in North Korea. Farmers work without tractors, soldiers survive on fish they catch in a river, and people in hills scour for edible plants.

In some ways, it’s not a far jump from propaganda to pop art. In “Let Me Taste It,” Song pays tribute to Andy Warhol, freedom of expression and the difficulties of life in North Korea.

Before his death in December, North Korean society revolved around the Dear Leader. But in “General and Tribes People,” Song shows Kim Jong Il’s shadow shrinking to a taper when around people who don’t buy into the myth.

Like most North Korean families, Song’s parents didn’t want him to wear his shoes unless it was necessary. “Shoes cost parents three or four days’ wages,” Song said, “and children were expected to stitch their own repairs.” In “Barefoot Boys,” a T-shirt says “Nothing to Envy in the World.”

“Mass Game” depicts a trademark image of North Korea, where thousands participate in exercises of unity and patriotism.

It’s not uncommon for North Koreans to describe the Dear Leader as a surrogate parent. In “A Loving Father and His Children,” Song replaces the chubby, square-jawed children he painted as a propagandist with realistic images of child beggars found around many North Korean rail stations. Passers-by will sometimes pay them to sing; a popular song is “Our General is a Great Leader.”

In “Hillside Slums,” the painting on the left, an image of Song’s mother dominates the skyline over the house he grew up in. She told Song she was worried about Kim Jong Il’s health before she herself died in the famine of the 1990s. By putting Kim in drag in “Fall Into My Arms,” Song glamorizes all things foreign and wonders whether life would not be more exciting for North Korea if it was opened to the outside.

The girls in “Flower Children” are waving and posing for foreigners in the way they’ve been trained: brimming with confidence that they live in the world’s greatest country. Song painted them with their eyes closed, blind to the reality of their poverty.

Song says he feels a bond with people from other countries where basic rights are restricted. “Freedom” expresses his hope that people everywhere will break their chains the way he broke his.

Song takes a cigarette break with Greg Pence, an American who saw Song’s work in Seoul, was moved by its power and organized the funds for an exhibit in the United States.

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Editor’s note: This is part of look at North Korea from the vantage point of some of those who have escaped and defected. See an accompanying story about a family now living in the U.S.

Atlanta (CNN) — Song Byeok had every reason to be pleased with his success. A gift for drawing led to a prestigious career as a propaganda artist and full membership in North Korea’s communist party.

Then the food shortages started.

Like tens of thousands of other North Koreans in the mid-1990s, Song made forays across the Tumen River to find food in China. Despite witnessing a better material life across the border, he says, he never doubted that North Korea was culturally superior. He never considered leaving his homeland for anything more than food.

“I was a believer. I saw North Koreans as pure,” Song said. “And we needed the Great Leader to protect us from outsiders.”

Today, Song paints in Seoul, South Korea, his art haunted by his former whole-hearted belief in the North Korean regime. Song’s paintings chronicle a personal, often agonizing journey from child-like allegiance to the country’s founder and “Great Leader,” Kim Il Sung, and his son, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il, to Song’s life today as a contemporary artist.

Defector paints Kim Jong il in drag

Ever desperate for hard currency, the official website of North Korea offers propaganda art for sale, including some of Song Byeok’s designs. Artwork promoting the North Korean regime is available on beer steins, clocks and even iPad and iPhone covers. The items are made in places as diverse and as far from North Korea as El Salvador and Pakistan. They are for sale in U.S. dollars and ship from California. This calendar sells for $5.99 and says “We must be determined to fight and win against imperialism.” You can also order this motif on an insulated bottle or can holder.

It may look like a nation at war, but in fact it’s a North Korean greeting card. The caption says “Happy New Year.”

Now available to foreigners on a coffee mug, Song Byeok painted this same design on three factory billboards inside North Korea. It says “Self-Reliance: This Is Our Only Belief.” The mug is made in China.

The bottom line on this lime-green T-shirt reads, “Let’s Build a Strong and Prosperous Country With the Power of Our Military.”

Song painted this design across the large exterior wall of a factory in North Korea. The gun and the dove dominate the scene, as the phrase beneath reads “Peace Through Fighting.”

This battery-powered wall clock sells for $16.49, and in addition to telling the time, it tells you, “Let’s Kick-Start the ‘Military First’ Policy.” This was Kim Jong Il’s policy of prioritizing the military’s needs over food during the famine of the mid-1990s.

The button on the right is emblazoned “All-or-Nothing War.”

If anyone were to think North Korean propaganda was relentlessly martial, this golf shirt (made in Pakistan) proclaims, “Let’s Ignite the Fire for Peace.”

This beer stein declares, “In Life, In Death, Red Is In Our Hearts.”

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

The painting created a stir in South Korea, where American Greg Pence saw it and raised funds on Kickstarter to exhibit Song’s work this winter in Washington and Atlanta.

Song is passionate and sometimes brooding when discussing North Korea but gracious and open about his deeply personal passage from propaganda artist to painter who anguishes over oppression in North Korea.

Obama: North Korea will achieve nothing with provocation

Song’s journey to disbelief began the moment he watched, helpless, as his father was caught in a current during a river crossing to China and drowned. Song was halfway across when his father was swept away; he swam back but was unable to rescue him. Despondent, Song searched for his father’s body along the riverbank but was captured by North Korean border guards.

Despite his rank as a party member, getting caught meant questioning and torture by North Korean guards to confirm that he was not working for the South Koreans or the foreign missionaries based in China who proselytize among defectors.

“There were no exceptions,” he said. “All who are caught are investigated.”

In North Korea, a brutal choice

The torment of not recovering his father’s remains was much greater than the broken teeth and beatings, Song said. The beatings were so harsh, he said, he was close to death, and he believes that he was released so he would not die in custody.

More than bones, the guards’ treatment broke Song’s belief in the regime. He describes the moment he left jail as if a veil had been lifted: He saw the world with a new clarity. As he hobbled through the streets, wondering how he’d get home, he decided he wanted a different life. He decided to defect.

In a country of 25 million, only about 20,000 have defected and settled in South Korea, according to the South Korean government. There are no precise figures for how many defectors live in hiding in China; estimates from governments, researchers and non-governmental organizations vary from 25,000 to more than 400,000.

“When people are picked up in China and repatriated, they face prosecution back in North Korea if they are believed to have met with South Koreans or missionaries,” said Marcus Noland, a North Korea specialist at the Peterson Institute.

China labels North Korean escapees “economic migrants” and forcibly returns them despite accounts of torture and execution. So those hoping to defect must make their way across China to a third country.

Of those North Koreans interviewed in China, only about one in 10 say they left because of a longing for freedom, according to W. Courtland Robinson, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University who has studied the issue for more than a decade.

The vast majority who leave give the same explanation Song did for his pre-defector forays into China during the famine: the search for work or food.

“The (North Korean) system is so integral to who you are,” Robinson said. “People generally don’t say ‘I am frustrated, and I want out.’ “

Song’s paintings explore that theme: a devotion to serving North Korea’s leaders so strong that citizens view it as part of their identity.

“Flower Children” shows a gaggle of smiling, uniformed schoolgirls waving and holding North Korea’s standard reading primers, “The Story of Kim Jong Il’s Childhood” and “History of Kim Il Sung.”

The girls exude childish charm, but some faces show a weariness that only comes with age, and their eyes are all closed. Their shoes have holes.

“They believe they are happy,” Song said. “They believe they are so much better off than the rest of the world because of their two leaders, who are like two suns.”

Song can still recite some of the pages from those reading primers, and he remembers walking to school in similar shoes.

Such memories inspire him to paint, he says, and he hopes people find his interpretations of those memories compelling.

“Tumen River” is done in classical Chinese style. At first glance, with its brushed mountain landscape, the painting looks like it could be from the Tang Dynasty. On closer inspection, its subtleties portray North Korea’s crippling poverty. Peasants work fields with oxen while nearby, a broken-down tractor rusts. Soldiers fish for their dinner downstream from women doing laundry by hand.

In the hills above the river are billboards common throughout North Korea, with phrases such as “All Glory To Our Nation’s Agricultural Independence” and “All Glory to Our Nation’s Great Strength.” Near the billboards, peasants dig for edible roots, which are commonly steamed in a kettle before being eaten.

“The past and the present of North Korea are the same,” Song said. “There is no progress.”

Despite the large and absolute devotion of most North Koreans to their government, Song is optimistic about their future under Kim Jong Un, who recently inherited the country’s reins after his father, the Dear Leader, died.

In a nation where every decision flows from the top, a change of leadership can transform everything.

“Kim Jong Un will want to try something new,” Song said. “You can not change the nature of youth.”

If Kim Jong Un allowed the population access to television, websites and radio from Seoul, with its opulent lifestyle, change would be inevitable, and the emotional connection to the government would gradually wither, Song believes.

Meanwhile, being caught with foreign media can mean public execution or three generations of your family being sent to prison camp. So few people outside the party elite dare to smuggle radios or DVDs from China.

But if those punishments were ever removed, Song says, North Koreans would probably lose their devotion to the regime as quickly as their Japanese neighbors stopped worshiping their emperor after World War II.

It would take only a clear view of the poverty and oppression in their life to spark cataclysmic demands for change, Song says. The spectacular failure of its command economy has made North Korea one of the poorest nations on Earth. By one plausible account, teenage defectors of the past decade are 5 inches shorter and 25 pounds lighter than their South Korean counterparts.

“I feel a great deal of anger now that I understand the problems” in North Korean society, he says. “I never felt it when I was there.”

In 2011, Impact Your World focused on some of the many organizations that provided immediate assistance to the area, such as emergency shelter, supplies and assistance to victims and their families. A year later, most relief efforts have ceased, but Joplin is still working to recover and rebuild. Hundreds are still homeless, and the destruction of businesses left many owners and workers without income.

The city of Joplin estimates that almost 130,000 volunteers have logged hundreds of thousands of hours since the tornado, helping rebuild over the past year in what Joplinites have referred to as the “miracle of the human spirit.” Americorps St. Louis, which matches needs with resources, has been responsible for coordinating their efforts.

What’s still needed

Memories of the tragedy are still fresh in the minds of Joplin residents. Lynn Onstot, the city’s communications officer, says now that storm season is back, many residents are finding themselves facing fears and anxieties: “Could such an epic storm hit us again?” To help them cope, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has granted funds to the Missouri Department of Mental Health for crisis counseling.

Although Joplin has worked fast to rebuild, many of the hundreds of businesses destroyed by the tornado have not been able to get back to full speed. The Joplin Chamber of Commerce stresses that the economic effects of a disaster like this can affect communities for years. It has created a charitable arm, the Business Recovery Fund, which raises money to help stabilize local businesses, fund building and retraining, and build a medical school.

One of the biggest problems Joplin residents continue to face is housing. A year after the storm, hundreds of families are still living in FEMA trailers and are unable to rebuild their homes. Rebuild Joplin works to construct housing for people whose homes were destroyed. It seeks donations and volunteers.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is getting involved by spearheading the Joplin Challenge in association with Habitat For Humanity. The challenge needs donations and volunteers to help build 35 homes to contribute to the city’s recovery. Volunteers can also join players from seven local sports teams — the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals; the St. Louis Rams, Cardinals and Blues; the University of Missouri Tigers; and Kansas Speedway in association with NASCAR Unites — and build alongside their team.

Onstot says that as far as long term efforts are concerned, the Joplin Recovery Fund has been instrumental. It was established by the Community Foundation of Southwest Missouri and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks. They have awarded 30 grants totaling $2.43 million since September for various causes including rebuilding Joplin, relief for tornado victims and improving disaster preparedness. They ask that donors note “Joplin Recovery Fund” on the fund program box online or on checks.

HLN recently featured a fundraising effort by Joplin expats Todd Green and Dave DuCille. Green is the president of Joplin Expats, and DuCille is the founder of Central Park Fitness. They are cycling from New York to Joplin to raise money for 20 storm shelters for families there. You can donate to their cause and follow their journey on their website.

Marking the anniversary

To mark the first anniversary of the disaster, Onstot says, everyone who has played a part in the city’s recovery is invited to the Joplin Day of Unity. The day will include such activities as a walk along the tornado’s path. The city has also developed a website that highlights other anniversary events.

Joplin welcomes everyone who would like to celebrate rebuilding efforts and play a part in the city’s journey back from the storm.

Ernie Els is most famous for his golfing exploits, but as his career reaches its twilight years he is focusing on a cause dear to his heart.

The former world No. 1swings his son Ben over his shoulder during the fourth annual Els for Autism Pro-Am charity golf tournament, held in March 2012.

Ben, seen here at another fundraising tournament in 2010, was diagnosed with autism when he was four years old.

Now nine, the youngster still struggles to speak and attends a specialist school in Florida. He is pictured here with his father in their former home in England in 2003.

Els often returns to his native South Africa for vacations with his wife Liezl, Ben and daughter Samantha. He has invested heavily in the Cape region where he grew up, opening a golf foundation for disadvantaged youngsters, a wine and restaurant business and a resort.

Els (pictured with Liezl with Ben in 2011) says he has met some families with three autistic children and admitted it would be “one of the hardest things in the world.”

Ernie Els gets the word out on autism

Off course with Ernie Els

Guan Tian-Lang, 13, will make history as the youngest player at a European Tour event when he tees off at his home China Open.

Guan will seek to better the achievement of Jason Hak, who was 14 when he became the youngest player to make the halfway cut at a European Tour event at the 2008 Hong Kong Open.

Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa is the youngest male player to win a professional tournament. He was 15 when he triumphed at the Munsingwear Open in 2007, and has since gone on to become a top-level tour competitor.

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko is the youngest player to win a professional event. She was just 14 when she triumphed at the the New South Wales Open in January 2012, having entered as the world’s leading female amateur.

Lexi Thompson is the youngest player to win on the women’s LPGA Tour. The American was 16 when she triumphed at the LPGA Classic in Prattville, Alabama in September 2011.

Thompson is also the youngest player to win on the European Ladies’ Tour. Here she receives her trophy at the Dubai Ladies Masters on December 17, 2011.

Golf’s young prodigies

Giving it back: Els’ off-course passions

Els’ golf foundation, now in its 13th year, was established to help under-privileged kids take up a sport unaffordable to most in his native South Africa.

He also contributes to the economy of the Cape region where he grew up, investing in a wine and restaurant business plus an award-winning golf resort that he helped design.

So while Els has spent most of his life carving a name for himself as one of the best golfers in the world, he says he now wants to be remembered for dedicating the rest of it to autism research.

Song Byeok’s paintings are often about coming to terms with life outside North Korea. Behind him is the painting “Child Warrior,” depicting the curious North Korean custom of dressing children in military clothes on special birthdays. Song painted the boy with his eyes closed.

“I risked my life on this painting,” Song says of “Take Off Your Clothes,” which created a stir by putting the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in a Marilyn Monroe pose. “In some ways, this picture represents me,” Song said. “I hope after North Korean society opens up, people will debate it.” It is used on this poster to promote Song’s recent exhibit in Atlanta.

North Korea built hundreds of statues of Kim Il Sung, founder of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In “Beloved Father of Our Country,” women in drab military clothing pay tribute to their “Great Leader.”

It was only after he lived outside North Korea that Song began to understand freedom and why it was so important. This, Song says, is his main message as an artist.

Like much of Song’s work, this painting, “Hope,” is about the desire for a better future for his homeland. “Defectors naturally want to help things inside North Korea change,” he said. “My way of doing that is to paint.”

A work done in classic Tang Dynasty style, “Around the Tumen River” looks as if it could have been painted centuries ago. But an up-close view reveals the hard realities of life in North Korea. Farmers work without tractors, soldiers survive on fish they catch in a river, and people in hills scour for edible plants.

In some ways, it’s not a far jump from propaganda to pop art. In “Let Me Taste It,” Song pays tribute to Andy Warhol, freedom of expression and the difficulties of life in North Korea.

Before his death in December, North Korean society revolved around the Dear Leader. But in “General and Tribes People,” Song shows Kim Jong Il’s shadow shrinking to a taper when around people who don’t buy into the myth.

Like most North Korean families, Song’s parents didn’t want him to wear his shoes unless it was necessary. “Shoes cost parents three or four days’ wages,” Song said, “and children were expected to stitch their own repairs.” In “Barefoot Boys,” a T-shirt says “Nothing to Envy in the World.”

“Mass Game” depicts a trademark image of North Korea, where thousands participate in exercises of unity and patriotism.

It’s not uncommon for North Koreans to describe the Dear Leader as a surrogate parent. In “A Loving Father and His Children,” Song replaces the chubby, square-jawed children he painted as a propagandist with realistic images of child beggars found around many North Korean rail stations. Passers-by will sometimes pay them to sing; a popular song is “Our General is a Great Leader.”

In “Hillside Slums,” the painting on the left, an image of Song’s mother dominates the skyline over the house he grew up in. She told Song she was worried about Kim Jong Il’s health before she herself died in the famine of the 1990s. By putting Kim in drag in “Fall Into My Arms,” Song glamorizes all things foreign and wonders whether life would not be more exciting for North Korea if it was opened to the outside.

The girls in “Flower Children” are waving and posing for foreigners in the way they’ve been trained: brimming with confidence that they live in the world’s greatest country. Song painted them with their eyes closed, blind to the reality of their poverty.

Song says he feels a bond with people from other countries where basic rights are restricted. “Freedom” expresses his hope that people everywhere will break their chains the way he broke his.

Song takes a cigarette break with Greg Pence, an American who saw Song’s work in Seoul, was moved by its power and organized the funds for an exhibit in the United States.

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Editor’s note: This is part of look at North Korea from the vantage point of some of those who have escaped and defected. See an accompanying story about a family now living in the U.S.

Atlanta (CNN) — Song Byeok had every reason to be pleased with his success. A gift for drawing led to a prestigious career as a propaganda artist and full membership in North Korea’s communist party.

Then the food shortages started.

Like tens of thousands of other North Koreans in the mid-1990s, Song made forays across the Tumen River to find food in China. Despite witnessing a better material life across the border, he says, he never doubted that North Korea was culturally superior. He never considered leaving his homeland for anything more than food.

“I was a believer. I saw North Koreans as pure,” Song said. “And we needed the Great Leader to protect us from outsiders.”

Today, Song paints in Seoul, South Korea, his art haunted by his former whole-hearted belief in the North Korean regime. Song’s paintings chronicle a personal, often agonizing journey from child-like allegiance to the country’s founder and “Great Leader,” Kim Il Sung, and his son, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Il, to Song’s life today as a contemporary artist.

Defector paints Kim Jong il in drag

Ever desperate for hard currency, the official website of North Korea offers propaganda art for sale, including some of Song Byeok’s designs. Artwork promoting the North Korean regime is available on beer steins, clocks and even iPad and iPhone covers. The items are made in places as diverse and as far from North Korea as El Salvador and Pakistan. They are for sale in U.S. dollars and ship from California. This calendar sells for $5.99 and says “We must be determined to fight and win against imperialism.” You can also order this motif on an insulated bottle or can holder.

It may look like a nation at war, but in fact it’s a North Korean greeting card. The caption says “Happy New Year.”

Now available to foreigners on a coffee mug, Song Byeok painted this same design on three factory billboards inside North Korea. It says “Self-Reliance: This Is Our Only Belief.” The mug is made in China.

The bottom line on this lime-green T-shirt reads, “Let’s Build a Strong and Prosperous Country With the Power of Our Military.”

Song painted this design across the large exterior wall of a factory in North Korea. The gun and the dove dominate the scene, as the phrase beneath reads “Peace Through Fighting.”

This battery-powered wall clock sells for $16.49, and in addition to telling the time, it tells you, “Let’s Kick-Start the ‘Military First’ Policy.” This was Kim Jong Il’s policy of prioritizing the military’s needs over food during the famine of the mid-1990s.

The button on the right is emblazoned “All-or-Nothing War.”

If anyone were to think North Korean propaganda was relentlessly martial, this golf shirt (made in Pakistan) proclaims, “Let’s Ignite the Fire for Peace.”

This beer stein declares, “In Life, In Death, Red Is In Our Hearts.”

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

North Korean communism for sale

The painting created a stir in South Korea, where American Greg Pence saw it and raised funds on Kickstarter to exhibit Song’s work this winter in Washington and Atlanta.

Song is passionate and sometimes brooding when discussing North Korea but gracious and open about his deeply personal passage from propaganda artist to painter who anguishes over oppression in North Korea.

Obama: North Korea will achieve nothing with provocation

Song’s journey to disbelief began the moment he watched, helpless, as his father was caught in a current during a river crossing to China and drowned. Song was halfway across when his father was swept away; he swam back but was unable to rescue him. Despondent, Song searched for his father’s body along the riverbank but was captured by North Korean border guards.

Despite his rank as a party member, getting caught meant questioning and torture by North Korean guards to confirm that he was not working for the South Koreans or the foreign missionaries based in China who proselytize among defectors.

“There were no exceptions,” he said. “All who are caught are investigated.”

In North Korea, a brutal choice

The torment of not recovering his father’s remains was much greater than the broken teeth and beatings, Song said. The beatings were so harsh, he said, he was close to death, and he believes that he was released so he would not die in custody.

More than bones, the guards’ treatment broke Song’s belief in the regime. He describes the moment he left jail as if a veil had been lifted: He saw the world with a new clarity. As he hobbled through the streets, wondering how he’d get home, he decided he wanted a different life. He decided to defect.

In a country of 25 million, only about 20,000 have defected and settled in South Korea, according to the South Korean government. There are no precise figures for how many defectors live in hiding in China; estimates from governments, researchers and non-governmental organizations vary from 25,000 to more than 400,000.

“When people are picked up in China and repatriated, they face prosecution back in North Korea if they are believed to have met with South Koreans or missionaries,” said Marcus Noland, a North Korea specialist at the Peterson Institute.

China labels North Korean escapees “economic migrants” and forcibly returns them despite accounts of torture and execution. So those hoping to defect must make their way across China to a third country.

Of those North Koreans interviewed in China, only about one in 10 say they left because of a longing for freedom, according to W. Courtland Robinson, a public health expert at Johns Hopkins University who has studied the issue for more than a decade.

The vast majority who leave give the same explanation Song did for his pre-defector forays into China during the famine: the search for work or food.

“The (North Korean) system is so integral to who you are,” Robinson said. “People generally don’t say ‘I am frustrated, and I want out.’ “

Song’s paintings explore that theme: a devotion to serving North Korea’s leaders so strong that citizens view it as part of their identity.

“Flower Children” shows a gaggle of smiling, uniformed schoolgirls waving and holding North Korea’s standard reading primers, “The Story of Kim Jong Il’s Childhood” and “History of Kim Il Sung.”

The girls exude childish charm, but some faces show a weariness that only comes with age, and their eyes are all closed. Their shoes have holes.

“They believe they are happy,” Song said. “They believe they are so much better off than the rest of the world because of their two leaders, who are like two suns.”

Song can still recite some of the pages from those reading primers, and he remembers walking to school in similar shoes.

Such memories inspire him to paint, he says, and he hopes people find his interpretations of those memories compelling.

“Tumen River” is done in classical Chinese style. At first glance, with its brushed mountain landscape, the painting looks like it could be from the Tang Dynasty. On closer inspection, its subtleties portray North Korea’s crippling poverty. Peasants work fields with oxen while nearby, a broken-down tractor rusts. Soldiers fish for their dinner downstream from women doing laundry by hand.

In the hills above the river are billboards common throughout North Korea, with phrases such as “All Glory To Our Nation’s Agricultural Independence” and “All Glory to Our Nation’s Great Strength.” Near the billboards, peasants dig for edible roots, which are commonly steamed in a kettle before being eaten.

“The past and the present of North Korea are the same,” Song said. “There is no progress.”

Despite the large and absolute devotion of most North Koreans to their government, Song is optimistic about their future under Kim Jong Un, who recently inherited the country’s reins after his father, the Dear Leader, died.

In a nation where every decision flows from the top, a change of leadership can transform everything.

“Kim Jong Un will want to try something new,” Song said. “You can not change the nature of youth.”

If Kim Jong Un allowed the population access to television, websites and radio from Seoul, with its opulent lifestyle, change would be inevitable, and the emotional connection to the government would gradually wither, Song believes.

Meanwhile, being caught with foreign media can mean public execution or three generations of your family being sent to prison camp. So few people outside the party elite dare to smuggle radios or DVDs from China.

But if those punishments were ever removed, Song says, North Koreans would probably lose their devotion to the regime as quickly as their Japanese neighbors stopped worshiping their emperor after World War II.

It would take only a clear view of the poverty and oppression in their life to spark cataclysmic demands for change, Song says. The spectacular failure of its command economy has made North Korea one of the poorest nations on Earth. By one plausible account, teenage defectors of the past decade are 5 inches shorter and 25 pounds lighter than their South Korean counterparts.

“I feel a great deal of anger now that I understand the problems” in North Korean society, he says. “I never felt it when I was there.”

Lebanese photographer Roger Moukarzel swapped his warm studio in Beirut for the frozen mountains of Lulea in northern Sweden. He was here to create a series of striking images that would highlight the cause and effect of climate change.

Lulea is part of the area commonly known as Lapland, a reindeer heartland and home, of course, to Santa Clause’s legendary workshop.

The reindeer share the region with the Sami, Europe’s northernmost officially indigenous people, whose ancestral lands spread across Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia.

Lulea’s subarctic climate, with mild summers and long, cold and snowy winters, make it an ideal habitat for reindeer. However, in recent years, locals have said that temperatures have been rising appreciably and, in 2010, a herd of more than 300 reindeer was reportedly lost when the ice cover of a frozen lake broke beneath their hoofs.

Moukarzel takes a picture of a local Sami girl, against the dark, ethereal backdrop of the Lulea forest.

Dressed in their rich and colourful traditional clothing, Moukarzel positioned his subjects against the intentionally incongruous image of a large, smoke-chugging factory.

“Many of the people that are suffering the effects of climate change have not done anything to contribute to it, and areas that are being destroyed are often far away from where the pollution is made,” he said. “The idea with the images is to bring these two realities closer together.”

According to Moukarzel, this series of images will be the beginning of many. The 45-year-old photographer plans to travel across all five continents, exploring this theme among different climates and cultures.

It will certainly not his first big adventure. At just 15, Moukarzel started his career with moving, sometimes haunting pictures of the Lebanese civil war.

He says he has always been primarily interested in taking pictures of people and “capturing moments of humanity” — such as this striking exchange from 1978 between a Lebanese soldier and a woman in war-torn Beirut.

After 15 years as a front-line photojournalist for news agencies Sygma and Reuters, Moukarzel hung up his hard hat in favor of high fashion, as he embarked on a new career in the world of fashion photography.

But Moukarzel retains his desire to challenge people’s preconceptions through his photography. This image was part of a series called “Turning Disabilities to Abilities.”

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Editor’s note: Part culture show, part travel show, over six weeks Fusion Journeys takes six stars of the creative world on a journey of discovery to a location of their choice. There, they will learn from a different culture and create something new inspired by their experience. Watch the show every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from April 9 to May 18, during Connect The World, from 20:00 GMT.

(CNN) — If Roger Moukarzel’s camera could talk, it would have some colorful stories to tell. From the front line of the Lebanese wars, to the bewitching fashion houses of Italy and France, the Beirut-born photographer has crossed every continent in search of the perfect picture.

Born in 1962, Moukarzel says his calling was thrust upon him as a teenager, when civil war broke loose on his doorstep and he felt a duty to document it. For 15 years he worked for news agencies Sygma and Reuters, capturing the spectacle and chaos of combat.

Swapping the battlefield for haute couture, Moukarzel’s fashion shots have featured on the cover of Elle magazine, while his advertising work has earned him three Pikasso d’Or Billboard Advertising awards over the past decade.

Roger Moukarzel: Lebanon through a lens

See more Fusion Journeys

He was met in Lulea by local part-time photographer and full-time reindeer herder Carl-Johan Utsi, himself a member of the Sami. Utsi’s knowledge and experience proved invaluable to Moukarzel as he attempted to tackle the rugged and frost-bitten landscape of Lulea.

Here, CNN asks Moukarzel to look back over his Fusion Journey.

Self-portrait: Photographer Roger Moukarzel

CNN: Describe the photographs. What was the thought behind their composition?

Roger Moukarzel: This series shows members of the indigenous Sami people from northern Scandinavia, dressed in their beautiful, very flamboyant traditional clothing. They are stood in the snow in this incredible landscape of Lulea, but right behind I placed an image of industry … a big factory.

Many of the people that are suffering the effects of climate change have not done anything to contribute to it, and areas that are being destroyed are often far away from where the pollution is made. The idea with the images is to bring these two realities closer together.

CNN: What drew you to make this journey in the first place?

RM: I believe that the role of the photographer is not only to take nice pictures, but to show people something that changes how they see and understand the world.

There are lots of pictures out there of ice-caps melting, forests being chopped down and so on. They are very direct images. But I wanted to tell the story of an indirect process, a story that somehow shows the chain of events from factory pollution on one hand to habitat destruction on the other.

This journey for me was about creating images that would have an impact — that would ask the viewer to think about the cause and effect of climate change.

CNN: Why Lulea?

RM: The Samis are fighting everyday to preserve their traditions and culture. They mainly make their living from fishing and reindeer herding. The environment is really crucial for them and they are aiming to live in harmony with it.

But in the past few years, these people have really experienced climate change. Their livelihood has been affected because they’ve not been able to travel on the frozen lakes. Why? Because they’re no longer frozen! They are in crazy situation where they have to transport reindeer by truck because it is not safe for them on the ice.

I was told that two years ago, a whole herd of reindeer died in the mountains because the ice beneath them just gave way.

See also: Indian master chef gets fresh in Denmark

CNN: What were you first feelings encountering the landscape and the people?

RM: It’s interesting because for this project I had done a lot of research — I felt like I had really immersed myself in the location before I got there, and that I would have a good idea of what to expect.

But nothing prepares you for the reality — the sudden impact of the scenery, the extreme cold, the deep beauty of this dreamlike land. It goes to show that nature is much deeper than what you can ever see in a photo … this is something I always have difficulty accepting as a photographer!

As for the people, they were wonderful. So warm, smiling — despite all that is happening. They went out of their way to help me.

CNN: You collaborated with local photographer Carl-Johan Utsi, did you work well together?

RM: I could not have done it without him. As a fellow photographer, I think he understood my intentions much more, and as a Sami himself — his knowledge and understanding of the people and the area was very important.

From a technical point of view, his experience of shooting in extreme weather was very useful. It’s not something I’ve ever done before and he showed me what to do when my camera froze, how to deal with the surroundings from a photographer’s perspective.

We had a lot of practical difficulties setting up the shoot, transporting the canvas and equipment across a very challenging landscape, and he was there for guidance at each step.

CNN: Are you happy with the results?

RM: Yes, very much so. I think there is a lot going on in these photos. You have elements of indigenous culture — the colorful dress and these remarkable people; you have the striking, other-worldly landscape; and finally you have this shocking image that grabs your attention and gives the photograph its important meaning.

But ultimately, the images are only truly valuable if they have some sort of impact. Already, I think, just by being on CNN, by you talking to me now, I can say that they are having this impact.

From here I will be traveling to at least 12 other countries using the same idea, the same motif. I’m going to go to every continent to show the real impact that climate change is having … So this was the start of my journey, and I hope you’ll be there when I reach the end.

Former Ukraine prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year jail sentence for abuse of office and faces another trial on tax evasion charges. The 51-year-old displays bruises she claims were inflicted by prison guards. Government officials deny the claims.

Tymoshenko’s husband Oleksander and daughter Yevgenia hold a news conference to rally support. Yevgenia claims her mother’s life is in danger since starting a hunger strike more than a week ago.

A police guard stands outside Tymoshenko’s cell at the Kachanivska prison in Kharkiv. Her supporters have called on president Victor Yanukovych to quit in the wake of allegations of abuse.

Thousands of supporters and opponents rallied outside Tymoshenko’s latest court hearing in Kharkiv on April 28. The mixed turnout shows how divisive Tymoshenko still remains in Ukraine after a spell in government that began with hopes of pro-Western reforms and ended with allegations of corruption.

Police experts examine one of the explosion sites in Dnipropetrovsk, where four bombs were let off in rubbish bins on Friday. At least 30 people were injured, raising serious concerns over safety at next month’s European Championships.

Pressure is mounting on president Viktor Yankovych to clean up the country’s human rights record. Following last week’s bomb blasts, UEFA took the unprecedented step of raising political concerns with the host country.

Euro 2012 interactive map

Porto’s fine after its fans made monkey chants at Manchester City’s Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure was less than the English club’s punishment for being late on the field in another match.

European football’s ruling body UEFA has run a “Unite Against Racism” campaign in recent years.

Three-time world player of the year Lionel Messi with a mascot wearing an anti-racism shirt ahead of Barcelona’s UEFA Champions League match against Czech team Viktoria Plzen in October 2011.

Manchester City took part in the campaign in 2009 when its players and mascots wore Unite Against Racism t-shirts for a home match against Polish club Lech Poznan.

UEFA has worked closely with the group Football Against Racism in Europe since 2001. FARE members will be patrolling matches at the Euro 2012 finals looking for evidence of racist behavior.

UEFA’s fight against racism

Daughter Yevgenia said her mother’s life is now in danger since starting a hunger strike more than a week ago, in a statement on the website of British newspaper the Guardian.

European leaders have continued to turn their backs on the June 8-July 1 event, which will be co-hosted by Poland, with the EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding also refusing to travel to the Ukraine.

German chancellor Angela Merkel is reportedly considering missing the tournament, with any such visit depending on Tymoshenko’s release. Her environment minister Nobert Rottgen has already urged Berlin government ministers to boycott matches.

Neither Ukraine nor Poland have previously hosted such a top-level sports event, which is run by European football’s governing body UEFA.

UEFA president Michael Platini last month complained of “crooks and bandits” hiking hotel rates in Ukraine, while last Friday bombings in the city of Dnipropetrovsk raised security fears ahead of the tournament.

At least 30 people were injured, but the Ukraine government has assured UEFA it was taking “all necessary steps” to ensure the safety of around 1.3 million fans expected to watch 16 national teams go head-to-head.

No-one has claimed responsibility for the bombs, which were placed in four rubbish bins and exploded at short intervals, but some reports linked them to protests against Tymonshenko’s treatment.

The attacks cast further doubt over Ukraine’s's ability to stage such an event, and UEFA has taken the unprecedented step of raising political concerns with the East European nation.

“Even though UEFA, as a sports organization, never interferes in political matters, it has asked the Ukrainian delegation to convey these concerns to the competent authorities,” it said.

Editor’s note: Shawn Achor is the author of the Happiness Advantage. He spent 12 years researching at Harvard, and is now CEO of Good Think Inc.

(CNN) — Scientifically, can happiness be an advantage?

Some people think if you are happy, you are blind to reality. But when we research it, happiness actually raises every single business and educational outcome for the brain. How did we miss this? Why do we have these societal misconceptions about happiness? Because we assumed you were average.

When we study people, scientists are often interested in what the average is. If we study what is merely average, we will remain merely average.

Many people think happiness is genetic. That’s only half the story, because the average person does not fight their genes. When we stop studying the average and begin researching positive outliers — people who are above average for a positive dimension like optimism or intelligence — a wildly different picture emerges. Our daily decisions and habits have a huge impact upon both our levels of happiness and success.

Watch Shawn Achor’s TED video to hear about this research

Scientifically, happiness is a choice. It is a choice about where your single processor brain will devote its finite resources as you process the world. If you scan for the negative first, your brain literally has no resources left over to see the things you are grateful for or the meaning embedded in your work. But if you scan the world for the positive, you start to reap an amazing advantage.

See also: When losing your job is a positive

Now that there is research validity to these claims, the working world is starting to take notice. In January, I wrote the cover story for the Harvard Business Review magazine on “Happiness Leads to Profits.” Based on my article called “Positive Intelligence” and my research in The Happiness Advantage, I outlined our researched conclusion: the single greatest advantage in the modern economy is a happy and engaged workforce.

A decade of research in the business world proves that happiness raises nearly every business and educational outcome: raising sales by 37%, productivity by 31%, and accuracy on tasks by 19%, as well as a myriad of health and quality-of-life improvements.

Given the unprecedented level of unhappiness at companies and the direct link between happiness and business outcomes, the question is NOT whether happiness should matter to companies. Given this research, it clearly should. The first question is: What can I do in my own life to reap the advantage of happiness?

See also: Ambition could make you rich, but not happy

Training your brain to be positive at work is just like training your muscles at the gym. Sounds simple, right? Well, think about how easy it is to make yourself go to the gym. The key with any new resolution is to make it a habit. New research on neuroplasticity — the ability of the brain to change even as an adult — reveals that moderate actions can rewire the brain as you create “life habits.”

In The Happiness Advantage, I challenge readers to do one brief positive exercise every day for 21 days. Only through behavioral change can information become transformation.

? Write down three new things you are grateful for each day;

? Write for two minutes a day describing one positive experience you had over the past 24 hours;

? Exercise for 10 minutes a day;

? Meditate for two minutes, focusing on your breath going in and out;

? Write one quick email first thing in the morning thanking or praising someone in your social support network (family member, friend, old teacher).

But does it work? In the midst of the worst tax season in history I did a three-hour intervention at auditing and tax accounting firm KPMG, describing how to reap the happiness advantage by creating one of these positive habits. Four months later, there was a 24% improvement in job and life satisfaction. Not only is change possible, this is one of the first long-term ROI (return on investment) studies proving that happiness leads to long-term quantifiable positive change.

In a study I performed on 1,600 Harvard students in 2007, I found that there was a 0.7 correlation between perceived social support and happiness. This is higher than the connection between smoking and cancer. So if in the modern world we give up our social networks to work away from friends and follow celebrities on Twitter, we are trading off with our happiness and health.

Following up, I switched around the questions and asked how much social support employees provided (instead of received). The results were off the charts. Those high on provision of social support are 10 times more engaged at work and have a 40% higher likelihood of promotion over the next four years. In other words, giving at the office gets you more than receiving.

The greatest cultural myth in modern society is that we cannot change. My research proves that you can not only become more positive, but if you prioritize happiness in the present, you can reap an extraordinary advantage.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Shawn Achor.