Embarrassed Tramp Stamps Intimated From The Young Loser

London (CNN) — Europe risks being squeezed between “low-cost China” and “high-tech America” unless it can rediscover the knack for innovation, says the head of aerospace company Avio.

Francesco Caio, the CEO of Turin-based Avio, told me that Europe’s prospects were bleak unless it could find a “new frontier of innovation.”

“Europe runs the risk of (being) squeezed between the muscles of low-cost China and the innovation of high-tech America,” said Caio, a corporate high-flyer whose resume includes heading Cable and Wireless, Indesit and Olivetti.

“I am genuinely concerned that if Europe is not determined to go all the way we run the risk of having a ‘half-baked cake’ — which would be very dangerous if … digested.”

Europe runs the risk of (being) squeezed between the muscles of low-cost China and the innovation of high-tech America
Francesco Caio, CEO of Italy’s Avio

European leaders need to face the fact that “an industrial model that has worked very well to create wealth and growth has come to an end,” he said.

“That is the challenge and that is the role of leadership in Europe — (to) make sure we have the ideas, vision and new ability to mobilize the great forces and strength that Europe has for growth.”

Avio is the prime contractor for Vega, the new European rocket system designed to launch the small satellites that are expected to be the main driver of the aerospace industry.

Watching the Vega’s maiden launch from the Guiana Space Center in February had been exhilarating, said Caio.

“You put seven years of development on the line — you have a few seconds in which the system needs to perform particularly well,” he said. “It was a relief in the first 12 seconds, the first 24 seconds, and then it was off.”

Made from carbon fiber, the Vega uses a solid propellant which gives it faster speeds than the Ariane 5.

“I think it lowers the barriers to entry for satellite launch, and for the exploration and exploitation of space technology, for smaller companies, university centers,” he said.

Of the nine satellites launched into orbit by Vega rockets so far, seven had been developed by European students.

Despite the gloom surrounding his country’s economic fortunes, Caio said there were “two stories” for Italian business at present.

“Companies that have a mix of domestic and export are doing very well, indeed, because they have hooked on to growing markets,” he said. “People who have been focused just on domestic market? Yes, they are suffering.”

Avio was now looking to Brazil and China for growth, said Caio. “We’re going where new consumers are learning the beauty of flight.”

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(CNN) — In 1957 Bill Marriott was a 25-year-old former navy officer urging his entrepreneur father to give him a shot at revitalizing the family’s first hotel, outside Washington D.C.

Fast forward 55 years and as executive chairman of Marriott International, Bill Marriott has built a world-renowned, multi-billion dollar hotel chain.

Back when Marriott got involved with the D.C. hotel the 365-room facility was an under-performing part of his family’s business portfolio, which then primarily consisted of restaurants and food stalls.

“My father was a restaurateur and he didn’t really understand the (hotel) side … of the business,” Marriott told CNN’s Richard Quest.

I figured out we’d make more money in the hotel business than we would ever make in the restaurant business
Bill Marriott, Marriott International

“I started focusing on what would make this hotel successful,” he added. “All of a sudden, I figured out we’d make more money in the hotel business than we would ever make in the restaurant business.”

In more than half a century in the industry, Marriott, now 80, has built a hotel empire of more than 3,700 properties. When it comes to changes in a fast-moving business, Marriott has seen it all.

When he started out in the 50s, Marriott was a single brand. These days, the industry is characterized by segmentation, with hotel corporations producing ever-more niche brands.

“In 1981 we had a lot of big box city hotels … someone said we are going to run out of great locations where we can build these hotels, we’ve got to do something to build the company — let’s go and build a hotel for the business man.”

The result? In 1983 Marriott introduced its Courtyard brand.

“We built a 150-room Courtyard in the suburbs of Atlanta,” Marriot told Quest. “It was tremendously successful, so then we just started cranking out these Courtyards. They didn’t have a lot of services — limited restaurant menu, no bellman, no room service, no parking attendants — but it was a low price for a great room.”

See also: 9 best secret hotels in the world

The Marriott portfolio now comprises 18 different hotel brands, including Ritz-Carlton and Fairfield Inn, which target different types of traveler, be they businesspeople, families, or budget travelers. And he believes there’s room for more brands.

“We’ve just added AC Hotels in Europe and Autograph Collection (a series of Marriott-owned independent hotels) two years ago … so we’ve got a lot of stuff going on,” he said.

And whereas once it may have been enough to simply provide hotel guests with a clean, comfortable place to sleep for the night, today’s customers demand more individual attention.

“If somebody asks the best place to have dinner, we know where that is,” said Marriott. “The best place to get an Armani bag? We know where that is. Where is the best place to go sightseeing? We are interested in taking care of your visit.”

Marriott says the biggest change he has seen in the last 20 years is the focus on the international market. In 1969 Marriott opened its first international hotel in Acapulco, Mexico. It now has facilities in 73 countries and territories around the world.

Marriott said he first realized the true importance of the international market when his company expanded into Asia.

See also: Make the most of your Singapore stopover

“We went into Hong Kong in 1989 … I had a feeling we had to be in Asia, we had to be over there. There was growth coming,” he said.

“I went to China in 1979 — there was nothing but Mao suits on bicycles, no cars, everybody wore the same clothing — but we could start to see glimmers of interest.”

Today there are 171 Marriott hotels operating in Asia and a further 85 in the pipeline, mirroring the region’s rise to economic prominence during the same period.

Marriott highlighted one final change in the hotel industry over the last 20 years, one that reflects a huge change in society as a whole: the prevalence of technology.

“We continually fight the battle (for) more broadband, better access,” he said. “Technology is very, very important. Thirty percent of our reservations come through the internet. We are in the top eight or nine purveyors on the internet.”

Marriott has recently stepped down as CEO and taken up the more hands-off position of executive chairman, passing on day-to-day control of the company to former president and COO Arne Sorenson. But Marriott’s not about to give up all of his influence over the company he built.

“It’s my life, it’s my vocation,” he said of his work over the last 55 years.

“I don’t play golf, I don’t have a yacht. I work and I visit hotels … it’s in my DNA,” he said.

(CNN) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday praised opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s efforts to advance democracy in Myanmar, a day after she said she would take the oath of office for the country’s parliament despite objecting to its wording.

Expressing his admiration for Suu Kyi at a news conference at her lakeside residence in Yangon, Ban said the process to improve democracy and human rights in Myanmar might be “difficult” but that there should be “no turning back.”

He also said he had invited Suu Kyi, who endured years of house arrest under the country’s military rulers, to visit the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Standing alongside him, Suu Kyi said that while she would like to make such a trip, she hadn’t given a “definite date” yet.

She is already due to visit Norway in June to make a belated acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize she was prevented from collecting in 1991 because she was in detention.

Suu Kyi also defended the decision by her and other newly elected opposition members to back down over their insistence that the parliamentary oath be reworded.

“We have always believed in flexibility in the political process,” she said, adding that it was the only way to achieve the movement’s goal without violence.

The impasse over the oath had been preventing her and other newly elected members of her party from taking their seats in the legislature.

“I will go to the parliament because there is a demand of people who voted for me,” Suu Kyi said Monday, after meeting with party members in Yangon on Monday.

She and 42 other members of her party, the National League for Democracy, were elected in by-elections last month.

The NLD had asked the authorities to amend the oath to say that members will “abide by” the constitution rather than “protect” it. Party members want to revise the constitution, which they view as undemocratic.

But the government of President Thein Sein, a former military official, didn’t appear to show any sign of moving to accommodate the request.

Suu Kyi said Monday that she would “take an oath for the country and for the people.” She added that she had been urged to enter parliament by some parliament members and representatives of Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups.

Asked whether she was concerned she may appear weak by backing down over the oath, Suu Kyi said, “I don’t care.”

Nyan Win, a spokesman for the NLD, said Suu Kyi will attend parliament in the capital, Naypyidaw, on Wednesday for “just one day.”

Before his meeting with Suu Kyi, Ban met with top officials, including Thein Sein, on Monday and offered U.N. support.

The international organization is available to provide technical assistance for Myanmar’s first census in 2014 and lend its electoral expertise in the run-up to the 2015 elections, the United Nations said.

Ban is the latest in a string of high-profile officials to visit the country as it emerges from decades of international isolation.

Myanmar’s authoritarian military rulers are loosening their grip on power after decades of stifling dissent and limiting freedoms.

In the past 12 months, the government has pardoned hundreds of political prisoners, secured a cease-fire with Karen rebels and agreed to negotiate with other ethnic rebel groups.

The success of Suu Kyi and her party at the by-elections was welcomed by the United States and European Union as a sign of progress toward democracy.

The dispute over the wording of the oath appeared to create an early stumbling block in that process.

But Suu Kyi said last week that she did not want the issue to become “political,” insisting that it was a “technical” problem.

Her arrival in parliament on Wednesday will illustrate the pace at which Myanmar is changing: She was released from house arrest less than a year and a half ago.

Control of parliament will not change despite the opposition’s strong performance, but the entry of the NLD members will nonetheless give the party a notable presence.

Myanmar’s legislature has 664 seats, more than 80% of which are still held by lawmakers aligned with the military-backed ruling group, the Union Solidarity and Development Party.

Many Western governments have taken steps to ease sanctions on Myanmar, also known as Burma, in response to its political reforms. But international officials have also cautioned that the country still has a long way to go.

Speaking last week ahead of his trip, the United Nations’ Ban said that Myanmar’s “fresh start is still fragile.”

CNN’s Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.

(CNN) — Emmindingen is a small town in southwest Germany, with about 26,000 people and an enviable unemployment rate of just 2.8% .

But barely 20 miles away, across the French border, the picture is very different. The Alsatian town of Selestat has a similar industrial base, but an unemployment rate of 7.4%. Among young people, the contrast is even starker, with 23% of under-25s unemployed in the French town, compared to 1.8% in Emmendingen.

The differing fortunes of these neighboring border towns illustrate the complaints of many French businesses, as their country heads towards a presidential election.

Anne Leitzgen is the president of SALM Kitchens, a family-run business which has operated since the 1930s, and has one of the largest worktop production lines in Europe.

We are afraid money will be taken from our companies, and afraid that taxes will increase a lot
Anne Leitzgen, president of French kitchen manufacturers SALM

Despite a commitment to invest in Selestat, she worries about the increased costs of running a firm in France, saying taxes are higher, labor is twice as expensive, and workers’ benefits are double those paid in Germany.

Leitzgen says she is concerned the next French government will tax companies like hers out of business. “We are afraid money will be taken from our companies, and afraid that taxes will increase a lot and the situation will become bad for companies our size ,” she says.

Further, she says, the “relationship between the unions is more constructive and easier in Germany.”

Across the border is the workplace of Emmanuel Foyer, a Frenchman who lives in his homeland but commutes to work in Emmendingen. Foyer, the sales manager for plastics industry solutions provider Braunform, believes a German focus on the long-term is behind the current success.

“In Germany, for sure, we are thinking of the long-term. In a company like this, [there's a] huge focus on training and the future of our employees,” he says. “The approach in Germany to keep workers in times of low-load level means we were ready when the economy restarted.”

I sincerely hope that jobs reforms will be put in place immediately
Marcel Bauer, mayor of Selestat, France

The trade-off for German workers is less job security, no national, fixed minimum wage, and less extensive social protections for the unemployed.

But the mayor of Selestat, Marcel Bauer, says it is time for France to make these changes to regain its economic competitiveness.

“As soon as the next president is in office — be it the one we’ve got or a new one — I sincerely hope that jobs reforms will be put in place immediately,” he says. “The system needs to be more flexible. There is a lot that must change, starting with the mindset of employers and employees.”

Editor’s note: David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and has been an adviser to four presidents. He is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. Follow him on Twitter. Michael Zuckerman is his research assistant.

(CNN) — As this election season unfolds, we are watching an age-old dream in politics go horribly smash. It isn’t good for politics, and it sure isn’t good for the country.

President Franklin Roosevelt helped to fire up the dream during his second term in office. Coming off a massive landslide in 1936, he believed that it would be far better for governing if the Democrats became the liberal party and Republicans the conservative one. In the 1938 congressional elections, he barnstormed across the South trying to purge the Democratic Party of several incumbent conservatives. His efforts backfired — the incumbents won and were sore at FDR — but the dream became a staple of politics.

In 1950, for example, in one of the landmark studies in political science – one still read today by undergraduate majors — some of the best minds of the day argued strongly that the nation would benefit from more ideologically “coherent” parties: that things would be better if Democrats stood firmly for a liberal ideology and Republicans for a conservative one.

That way, people would have clear choices, they would know what they were voting for, and they could count on their party delivering if it were in power. “Shoo out those racially suspect Sunbelt conservatives from Democratic ranks and those lily-livered Northeastern liberals from the GOP. And maybe some of those moderates, too.” So the thinking went.

Well, in recent years, we have seen the dream come true. And guess what? It is producing a mess. As each of the parties has moved toward ideological purity, our politics have become ever more polarized, our governing ever more paralyzed. Extremists increasingly run the show.

This campaign season is pointing toward a rough road ahead after the November elections. Yes, it is true that in selecting a presidential candidate, both parties have chosen men who on the surface seem moderate centrists. But each of the candidates has decided that in order to win, he must first stir up his ideological base.

Would Mitt Romney have endorsed the Paul Ryan budget, a hard line against immigration and a condemnation of Planned Parenthood if he were not trying to prove that he’s a “severe conservative”? Meanwhile, Barack Obama has moved left, pushing taxes on the rich, piling up trillion-dollar deficits and bashing the same Republicans he would have to work with in a second term.

One can see these trends in harsher relief amid campaigns for the Senate and House. Olympia Snowe, a moderate and much-beloved GOP senator from Maine facing her first primary challenge, is retiring because of a lack of bipartisanship and mechanisms to find “common ground.”

Sens. Richard Lugar and Orrin Hatch — both stalwarts of the GOP who have committed apostasy by trying to work across party lines — face primaries this season that imperil their survival: A poll Thursday morning found Lugar down 5 points to a tea party-backed challenger in Indiana, and Hatch failed to secure a 60% supermajority at his party’s convention in Utah, sending his race to a primary. Only two years ago in Utah, another stalwart Republican who had worked with Democrats, Bob Bennett, was deposed by an ideologically purer primary challenger.

In the House, meanwhile, the once-robust cadre of “Blue Dog Democrats” — moderate to conservative members of the liberal party — has been winnowed out, with two more members (Reps. Jason Altmire and Tim Holden of Pennsylvania) defeated in primaries this past Tuesday by opponents from their left flanks.

As of 2010, there were as many as 54 Blue Dogs, but the midterms knocked their caucus down to 26. With retirements and primaries, that number will probably be well below 20 by next January — an effect that further turns Democrats into the party of the left.

Some activists — conservative Grover Norquist among them — argue that over time, this purification will be good for the U.S. But so far, the task of governing has gotten much tougher, and what little trust is left among the parties is evaporating. As the parties become more ideological, it’s easier to demonize the other side and harder to rationalize working with it — both to your colleagues and your constituents. Woe to be you in your next primary if you have consorted with the enemy.

Under heavy pressures for party conformity, legislation by nature becomes a more partisan undertaking. Hard to believe it now, but big programs like Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s, or tax and Social Security reform in the 1980s, passed with broad bipartisan support.

Our latest legislative achievements, on the other hand (think health care, the stimulus or Wall Street reform), have been almost entirely driven by one party. More often than not, gridlock and obstruction soon follow. As scholar Bill Galston has wisely noted, it becomes “a zero-sum mentality: if they win, we lose.”

As Galston and others have theorized, all this sniping saps the public’s trust in the government, but it does something equally insidious, too: It saps trust between the parties, completing the vicious cycle and making compromise even tougher.

So it’s crucial to bolster the men and women of courage in politics: the ones who can act as ambassadors between these increasingly dug-in parties and who can kindle that small flame of trust that has almost gone out. Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia) and a handful of others, for example, have launched laudable work on this count in the Senate, pulling together small, quiet dinners with legislators from both sides of the aisle who are strong in principles but equally strong in their commitment to moving the ball forward for the country.

Getting by on the little victories can help restore health to the process, too. The Congress coming together on patent reform at the end of 2011, the JOBS Act in early April and (potentially) on extending low interest rates on student loans in coming days may seem like small potatoes, but these compromises can be confidence builders. Like water over a stone, they can slowly but steadily wear away some of the mistrust and acrimony.

Franklin Roosevelt was right on many big things, but on this one, he was dead wrong.

Follow us on Twitter: @CNNOpinion

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the authors.

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(CNN) — Football is part of the lifeblood of the people of Brazil, who have seen their heroes lift the FIFA World Cup a record five times since 1958.

From the legendary Pele, who inspired that initial success in Sweden and also played in the 1962 and 1970 winning teams, through to the eras of Romario, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho, ordinary Brazilians have delighted in their exploits.

Because Brazil’s “Samba Boys” don’t just win, they win in style, capturing the imagination of a population often struggling with poverty and inequality.

“I would say it is all about the joy football brings,” Manchester United’s Brazilian star Anderson told CNN.

“It’s about the children who maybe don’t have enough food at home, who don’t have a dad or a mum, but they go outside to play football even with bare feet and they feel joy and happiness to do it. It happened to me and many of my friends when we were growing up.

“Football helps a lot of people in Brazil. If you took football away from Brazilians, you would be affecting the nation’s heart.”

A rocky road to Rio and the 2014 World Cup?

That’s why it’s a matter of some national concern that Brazil, a football-mad country with a seemingly neverending conveyor belt of talent, has never won the Olympic tournament — not with its men, or its also highly-talented women.

And with Brazil hosting the 2014 World Cup, and the Olympics two years after that, the pressure is on.

The 2008 Beijing Games provided the latest disappointments, with a men’s team sporting the likes of two-time world player of the year Ronaldinho and future AC Milan star Alexandre Pato crashing out in the semifinals to Argentina, losing 3-0 and ending up with the bronze medal.

The women’s side, including five-time FIFA World Player of the Year Marta, had to settle for silver for the second straight Olympics.

Work and play – Brazil’s samba star Neymar has it all

Midfielder Anderson, who played in the Argentina match, admits that the failure hurt — and not just because Brazil’s South American archrivals went on to claim the gold medal for the second successive time.

“We had hoped to win the gold medal because we had great players like Ronaldinho, Pato … I was there, other stars as well, but we couldn’t do it,” he said.

“To be honest it didn’t hurt more to lose to Argentina. What hurt is that we lost the chance to win a gold medal that we could take home and show our family and our kids. That’s what hurt the most. We were sad, our families were sad. To me and the rest of the squad it was very sad.”

Anderson is unlikely to be part of Brazil’s bid for golden glory at London 2012, having been left out of coach Mano Menezes’ provisional 52-man squad.

Booming Brazil lures immigrant workers

It’s a powerful lineup which includes rising stars Neymar and Paulo Henrique Ganso, who both ply their trade for Santos in the Brazilian league but have been linked with several top European clubs.

Ronaldinho, Chelsea defender David Luiz and Barcelona’s Dani Alves are among the more established stars hoping to be named as one of the three players aged over 23 who will be allowed in the final 18-man squad.

Anderson knows the pressure of expectation on their shoulders, and what winning the tournament would mean to the players and his nation.

“To win a football gold medal at the Olympics for Brazil would be like winning the World Cup,” he said. “I am really hoping and praying that we can do it.”

Sugar seats’ at Brazil’s 2014 World Cup?

Anderson’s Manchester United teammate Rafael da Silva has also been picked, and will likely be battling Alves for the right-back berth.

The 21-year-old has a burning ambition to be part of Brazil’s first gold medal-winning team.

“You can’t even describe how much I want it — I really want to play these Olympics, I want to win them,” Rafael told CNN. “It will be an enormous pride to win this for Brazil.”

His twin brother Fabio, also part of United first-team squad, may have to wait to achieve his Olympic dream after being left out of the provisional squad.

“We started having this dream since we were about 10 years old,” Fabio said,”because Brazil never had won this medal and I would talk to my brother and say, ‘It would be great for us to get that gold medal, that Brazil never had.’ “

FIFA beer battle about cash, not game

This time the Olympic tournament will be missing Argentina, who failed to qualify, but Anderson is warning against complacency.

“Of course Argentina have great players and are a great team, but there are other teams we must worry about because at the Olympics you never know what you are going to get since every nation wants to take home a medal. It’s a tough competition, a great competition,” he said.

Fabio agreed: “There are also strong sides coming from Africa and even the Great Britain team, they have good players and they have home advantage.”

Rafael chipped in: “Imagine playing against Britain in the UK… Imagine… Old Trafford… semifinals!”

Before the excitement of the Olympics, United’s Brazilian contingent have their parts to play in bringing a record-extending 20th English title to Old Trafford.

Teixeira quits as Brazilian football chief

Neighbors Manchester City provide the main challenge, having headed the standings for much of the season until United took over at the top earlier this month.

“City are now a real contender while we have had a history of success for many years,” said Anderson.

“We have had a lot of injuries but now we have most people fit and when that is the case we are very hard to beat.”

The top two meet at City’s Etihad Stadium on April 30 in what many believe will be the EPL title decider, but Rafael believes the games before that showdown will be equally decisive.

“We need to think about winning games that we have, particularly away from home. When it’s closer, we can start thinking about the game against them, which it will be a great match of course,” he said

All three Brazilians are indebted to the guidance they have received from legendary United manager Alex Ferguson in their time with the Red Devils.

“He’s a manager with a lot of experience and he passes on a little bit of everything he says,” was Fabio’s verdict.

“He tries his best to be honest with the players. I think that’s really important,” said Rafael.

Anderson said that when the 70-year-old finally decides to retire, it will leave a massive void.

“When Ferguson leaves Manchester United, the club will miss him a lot. He is fundamental for this club. When he leaves, I am telling you, people will be so sad because he is special, he is different. His history of success shows that.”

(EW.com) — To play the bubbly, optimistic redhead at the center of “Annie,” 11-year-old Lilla Crawford doesn’t have to reach far.

Fresh off the announcement today that Crawford will be headlining the Broadway revival of the classic musical (due in fall 2012), EW caught up with the bright, buoyant young star before she tackles the iconic role as Broadway‘s favorite orphan.

Entertainment Weekly: Where were you when you found out you got the part?

Lilla Crawford: Well, my manager called up and said that we had to be at the agent’s office to do a video audition, and so we came over and he said it was going to be an interview [about] dogs. It was just going to be questions about dogs, so he started asking me a couple of questions about them, and then he finally said, “How does it feel to be ‘Annie’ on Broadway?” And I was like, “What? What the–?” And he said, “You’re going to be ‘Annie’ on Broadway!” And I was like, “Really!?” That’s what happened. When I found out, oh my gosh, my heart just stopped. I was so amazed and I was so excited to start.

EW: Were your parents there with you?

Crawford: My mom was there! So was my sister, and all of the agents. They were really excited as well. Everyone that I could tell was there. I was supposed to keep it a secret, so I didn’t call up anyone, but I wished that I could!

EW: What was the audition process like?

Crawford: Well, when I found out that they were doing a revival of “Annie,” I decided to audition just for fun and see how it turned out. So I auditioned and I got a callback, after callback, after callback. And I just wanted to be a part of the show; I didn’t care what role. But I got about five or six callbacks until the last callback, then I got it.

EW: Were you ever in a production of “Annie” growing up?

Crawford: Yes, I was in another production of “Annie.” It was an all-kids production and it was in a little community theater. I think I was about 8 or 9, and I actually played Bert Healy, so it’s kind of funny.

EW: Were you a big fan of the movie?

Crawford: Yes. I’ve seen the movie before, and I’ve actually seen the show, so yeah, I really did like that show a lot before I became a part of it.

EW: What part of being in the show are you most looking forward to?

Crawford: Now that I get to be in it, I’m really looking forward to everything, but mostly I’m really looking forward to working with the dogs, and everyone else! I do like dogs a lot.

EW: If you could meet any Broadway star, who would you pick?

Crawford: To meet anyone on Broadway? I do like Sutton Foster and Kristin Chenoweth a lot, so it would be really fun to like, go to lunch with the two of them. It sounds crazy but… maybe it’ll happen! I don’t know! But I do also like Raul Esparza and Matthew Broderick. Those are really good ones, too.

EW: How do you think the message of “Annie” will translate for other kids growing up today who might see the show?

Crawford: In the Depression especially, I think you learn to face problems and not run away from them. [You have to] always have hope for tomorrow and the sun will come out tomorrow! And if you have a bad day, just always think that it’ll be a new one and a good one the next day.

See the full article at EW.com.

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© 2011 Entertainment Weekly and Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Seattle (CNN) — David Wing-Kovarik and his partner, Conrad, were ready to adopt a child.

They moved through all their requirements smoothly, even completing an orientation and training course for prospective parents.

Then they were confronted with their first real stumbling block.

“Our adoption agent said, ‘Well, you both look the same on paper, so who’s going to be the parent?’” Wing-Kovarik recalls.

In Arizona, where the couple lived at the time, only individuals and legally married couples may adopt from the U.S. foster care system. But because a same-sex couple cannot legally marry in the state, only one parent can be granted legal rights to the child.

“We saw (it) as a disadvantage to the child,” said Wing-Kovarik, 47. “We, frankly, got very angry about it when we thought about everybody else that was in the (training) class. None of them were asked this question. And it came down to the fact that we were a male couple. This was when we first experienced how being that gay couple just adds to the complexity of the whole process. It makes it much harder.”

In 18 states and the District of Columbia, same-sex couples can jointly petition to adopt a child. But in the other states, such as Arizona, the law either restricts joint adoption or is unclear.

That only adds confusion and frustration to what is already a “mind-numbing” adoption process, Wing-Kovarik said.

“It makes your head spin with the questions that are asked of you, with the forms that you have to fill out,” he said. “And then you have on top of that the fact that your family might not be that mom-and-dad home. You’re that gay or lesbian family … and the questions begin to change.”

Wing-Kovarik and his partner did their homework and were eventually able to adopt two sibling boys after relocating to Seattle for Conrad’s new job. But it was a long, arduous and invasive process, one that scares off many other potential parents, Wing-Kovarik said.

“It becomes a daunting experience,” he said. “It’s why the families don’t always come forward, because they think they’re going to be rejected.”

And to him, that is unacceptable with 107,000 boys and girls waiting for adoption in the United States.

“When you lose that family, you lose an opportunity for a child,” he said. “They need help. … That child sitting in foster care year after year after year is not going to their social worker and saying, ‘I only want a mom-and-dad home.’ “

Determined to help other families deal with the same obstacles that he had faced, Wing-Kovarik started a nonprofit, Families Like Ours. It began as a simple online resource for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people wanting to foster or adopt. But as word spread about its growing expertise and its success in helping foster placements and adoptions, more diverse people started coming to the group for help.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight, pink, purple, orange, polka-dotted, from Mars, from the moon or any other place,” Wing-Kovarik said. “If you think you can make a difference with these kids, you should be stepping forward to do to this. …

“It’s unacceptable that families are faced with barriers that are put in their way because of a myth, a misunderstanding, miscommunication … preventing a child from having a family just because (other people) just don’t like what that family looks like.”

Wing-Kovarik estimates that his group has helped thousands of families — both gay and straight — by offering a range of services such as lawyer referrals, case consultations, special-needs classes and tips on therapists and pediatricians. With the help of a nationwide network of volunteers — many of whom have benefited from the group in the past — everything is free.

“Families contact us and say, ‘I want to do this, how do I do this?’ We do two things: find out the answer and figure out how it really works for their specific situation, because they are never the same,” Wing-Kovarik said.

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

According to the state of Washington, more than 75% of families who have attended a training class through Wing-Kovarik’s group have gone on to be placed with a foster child.

“That is much higher than other agencies,” said Paulette Caswell, adoption and permanency supervisor for the state’s Department of Social and Health Services.

Wing-Kovarik has also become a preferred trainer of the state, training nearly 250 families a year since 2002.

“He has a unique perspective, and families connect to this,” Caswell said. “And (David’s work) is done for truly altruistic reasons. There is no cost to the state for it. We have others that support us and do a lot of work, but we tend to pay for that service. Families Like Ours does it through donations and grants, and he hasn’t been paid in years. That’s pretty extraordinary.”

Kevin Broderick, a single, gay man, called Families Like Ours when he encountered difficulty finalizing the adoption of his now 13-year-old son, Michael.

“I am 100% sure that if it weren’t for David, I would not have my son,” Broderick said. “He understands how things should go, but also when they don’t go right, how can we get them back on track? He figured out how to get us over that finish line.”

In 2007, the Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law estimates that there were 65,500 adopted children living with a gay parent in the United States. Wing-Kovarik says these homes are really not all that different from traditional mom-and-dad households.

“We’re a two-dad home,” he said. “On the surface, does it look different? Sure. But when we’re at home, does it look any different than anybody else? No. We argue and fight with the kids to get their homework done and brush their teeth and take a shower and brush their hair. ‘Put your shoes on the right feet!’ ‘Is your backpack packed?’ ‘Why is your lunch sitting on the floor when the dog is eating it?’ Well, that’s the same thing everybody else complains about.”

Wing-Kovarik has had his two boys, Chris and Shawn, since 2002, and he can’t imagine sitting idle while there are so many other foster children who are still stuck in the system.

“Thinking of all of the other Chris and Shawns that are in foster care, and not knowing what’s going to happen to them … I can’t just walk away from that. …

“It’s not my job to go in and guarantee what the life of that child’s going to be. It’s simply my job to make sure that child has some sort of hope. … We’re going to make this match, and we’re going to move forward. And that kid’s going to have as productive a life as we can help that kid have.”

Want to get involved? Check out the Families Like Ours website at www.familieslikeours.org and see how to help.

(CNN) — For the last decade, Carolyn LeCroy has been helping children stay connected to their incarcerated parents through video messages.

LeCroy was honored as a CNN Hero in 2008, and has since expanded her Messages Project to prisons in five states.

Her story inspired actress Holly Robinson Peete, who recently joined LeCroy on a visit to a maximum security prison.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper spoke with Peete about her experience.

Anderson Cooper: What was it about Carolyn’s efforts that first sparked your interest?

Holly Robinson Peete: I learned about a subset of the population that I never thought of before, which are the children of incarcerated parents.

There was something about how hard of a sell it is; anytime you are talking about inmates or people in prison, people automatically — there’s some pushback. But with Carolyn’s brand of philanthropy, I just found myself intrigued, and I had to help her out.

Read the 2008 story: Ex-con’s videos keep inmates, kids in touch

Cooper: How does the Messages Project work?

Peete: The Messages Project goes into prisons across the country and films messages of incarcerated parents who are either reading a book, a bedtime story, giving a very positive message, giving love to the caregiver watching these children.

Something so simple you would think wouldn’t be a big deal, but to a child who’s lost their parent to incarceration, they watch these videos over and over again. It has a really positive effect on them. So many times, a lot of these children end up in prisons themselves, and this is something that might be able to stop that chain.

I think about watching my father’s video. My father’s been deceased for many years. When he was at my wedding, he just said, “I love you.” I watch it over and over and over again, and it just lifts me up. To these children, these are not hardened criminals. Oftentimes they are just looked at as Mommy or Daddy. So, it’s very important that the children know it’s not their fault and that they know they’re loved.

More: CNN Heroes

Cooper: How did you get involved with the program?

Peete: I met Carolyn in 2008 and we’ve been trying to get together. … The Messages Project is now in Oklahoma, in Nebraska, in Virginia.

And we kept talking about California. It’s the most incarcerated state in the country. And that’s where I live. So I said, “We’ve got to get in there.” And we finally made it in. It … was a lot of pressure; I wanted it to go well.

Cooper: What did that day involve?

Peete: It involved me driving for hours and hours and hours to the middle of the desert, to the middle of nowhere California. … It involved meeting five inmates who, most of them, may never come out of that prison. And they really didn’t strike me as people who had done anything except that they were dads in that moment and they wanted to get messages to their children.

Cooper: What’s it like seeing someone who is incarcerated and you know why they are there, and yet you see them in kind of a different light when they are trying to get a message to their child?

Peete: Apparently these are hardened criminals, people who are doing time for very, very serious offenses, often murder and armed robbery. I personally didn’t want to know until I left what they did. I just wanted to appeal to them as a mom and as a parent.

I think we don’t think about the impact of what the children of incarcerated parents have to go through. Sometimes their parents are just yanked, right in front of their eyes in some very difficult situations with policemen and guns. So, it’s a mind-boggling situation for children, and these tiny messages are so impactful.

Cooper: It’s an incredibly intimate act, the making of these videos.

Peete: Even being there and watching some of these men, I was moved to tears because I saw how gut-wrenching it was for them to say, “I’m sorry. This is not your fault. Daddy loves you and I just want you to be the best person you can be.” Those little anecdotal things sound very cliché. We take it for granted if we’ve got a parent in the home, but hearing that for a child can make all the difference in the world.

I felt like I was doing something not necessarily for the inmates, but for their children. I was impacted by it for the rest of the day, and still am.

Cooper: You were recognized by a couple of the prisoners. What was that like?

Peete: We walked into the cell block, and … two gentlemen that came out looked at me. One of them said, “Hey, Holly. What’s going on? Remember you met me in Vancouver, and it was 1980. You were shooting ’21 Jump Street.’” He said, “I’ve been trying to get a script to your agent.” … (laughs) Even in jail somebody has a script for you, Anderson. …

I was just very blown away at his resourcefulness, because sure enough, three days later my agent said, “Did you meet a screenwriter in jail?”

Cooper: What is it about the CNN Heroes project that really caught your interest?

Peete: I’m a CNN Heroes groupie. … The Heroes just use whatever it is that is at their disposal, and I’m always blown away by what they are able to accomplish with so little. And for no other reason than it is their calling, it is something they are drawn to.

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(CNN) — The life of a tennis professional is tough, but the rewards are plentiful — and not just in a financial sense.

The long trawl around the globe on both the men’s and women’s tours has often been a breeding ground for blossoming courtships, as lovestruck couples decide it is game, set and match while gazing at the figure on the opposite baseline.

With Valentine’s Day upon us, CNN World Sport charts the 15 top romances involving the stars of tennis in the gallery above. If you disagree, or think we’ve missed any out, let us know in the comments section below the story.

Who could forget the enduring romance of Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, both multiple grand slam winners, whose love was reputedly cemented at the 1999 French Open champions’ ball and is still going strong after 10 years of marriage?

One of the game’s greatest ever players, Roger Federer, met his wife Mirka when the pair represented Switzerland at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

But it is not all happily ever after. Chris Evert, an 18-time grand slam champion, has served love games to two fellow professionals — Jimmy Connors and John Lloyd — only for cupid to return a double fault.

Several high-profile recent relationships have proved the kinship between tennis and other sports too, especially golf.

Golf star Rory McIlroy, who won the 2011 U.S. Open, is currently dating former tennis world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki. The partnered pair refer to themselves as “Wozilroy.”

Another golfer, Australia’s Adam Scott, has recently rekindled his romance with glamorous Serbian tennis star Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 French Open champion.

Tennis has long been linked with showbiz, and high-profile names in the game have often mingled with stars of stage and screen.

British pop crooner Cliff Richard’s relationship with 1976 French Open winner Sue Barker made waves in the early 1980s, while Agassi’s brief marriage to American actress Brooke Shields also attracted a deluge of headlines.

(CNN) — A judge on Saturday postponed the tax evasion court hearing of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence following last year’s conviction of abuse of authority.

Judge Konstantin Sadovsky postponed the hearing until May 21, ruling that Tymoshenko could not be tried in absentia, the Ukrainian State News Agency reported.

Tymoshenko did not attend the hearing because of “massive back pain,” according to the news agency.

The judge’s ruling follows reports that Tymoshenko was roughed up in prison.

The two-time prime minister said Tuesday she was beaten unconscious in prison last week, but the prosecutor said his office investigated her claim and found no proof to substantiate her allegations.

But EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Tymoshenko’s claim had been confirmed by the Ukrainian Ombudsperson’s Office.

Tymoshenko was “subjected to physical violence during the transfer from her cell to a hospital on 20 April,” read a statement released Thursday by Ashton’s office

Ashton called on Ukraine “to examine promptly and impartially any complaints of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment,” according to the statement.

Tymoshenko went on a hunger strike after the beating to draw attention to “violence and lack of rights” in her country.

Ashton’s statement said she is “seriously concerned” about Tymoshenko’s hunger strike. She asked Ukraine to allow the EU ambassador and independent medical specialists to visit the former prime minister in prison.

Tymoshenko said she was discussing with officials a transfer to a hospital for health reasons before the beating.

In a statement, Tymoshenko said that after her cell mate left the cell, “three sturdy men” entered, threw a bed sheet over her, dragged her off the bed and applied “brutal force.”

“In pain and despair, I started to defend myself as I could and got a strong blow in my stomach through the bed sheet,” she said in a statement.

Tymoshenko was dragged “into the street,” she said. “I thought these were the last minutes of my life. In unbearable pain and fear I started to cry and call out for help, but no help came.”

She fell unconscious, and when she came to, she was in a hospital ward, she said.

Last October, a Ukrainian court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of authority for signing overpriced gas contracts with Russia and sentenced her to the seven-year prison term.

The prosecutor said the gas deals inflicted damages to the country amounting to more than 1.5 billion hryvnas (almost $190 million at the current exchange rate). The court ruled she must repay the money.

Amnesty International has slammed the verdict as “politically motivated” and called for the release of Tymoshenko, who was prime minister from January to September 2005 and December 2007 to March 2010.

CNN’s Zarifmo Aslamshoyeva contributed to this report.

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(CNN) — Lionel Messi is widely regarded as the world’s best footballer — and now it seems the Argentina star is also unrivaled among his peers off the field.

David Beckham has long been the sport’s biggest earner even in his declining years, due to his lucrative endorsement deals, but the former Manchester United and Real Madrid superstar has been eclipsed by Barcelona’s magician.

The three-time World Player of the Year was unveiled by France Football magazine as the highest-earning player in soccer on Tuesday, collecting ?33 million ($52 million) in wages and endorsements during 2011.

The 24-year-old, who has scored 51 goals for the Catalan giants in all competitions, headed a list which placed Los Angeles Galaxy’s former England captain Beckham in second on $50 million.

Beckham recently signed a new contract with the Galaxy, and unveiled a clothing line with Swedish retailer H & M earlier this year.

Messi’s on-field rival Cristiano Ronaldo also featured highly. The Portugal forward’s total earnings of $46 million in 2011 put him third ahead of Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon.

Eto’o secured a lucrative move from Inter Milan to big-spending Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala in August 2011 and he has reportedly banked $37 million.

Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney was fifth on the list with $32.6 million, while the Manchester City duo of Argentina’s Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure of the Ivory Coast took home $29.7 million and $27.8 million respectively.

Completing the top 10 were Chelsea striker Fernando Torres ($26.4 million), Real playmaker Kaka ($24.5 million) and Bayern Munich’s Germany captain Philipp Lahm ($22.6 million).

France Football is one of Europe’s leading sports magazines, and it formerly organized the Ballon d’Or awards for the continent’s top achievers.

The Ballon d’Or has now merged with ruling body FIFA’s world player of the year awards.