More than 4,000 evacuated after Indonesia volcano eruption

There are no immediate reports of casualties

• Indonesia is location on "The Ring of Fire"

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- More than 4,000 residents have been evacuated from a central Indonesian province after a volcano erupted, sending smoke high into the sky.
Mt. Lokon in the northern Sulawesi province first erupted Thursday night. A second eruption occurred early Friday morning, authorities said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but teams were assessing damage, said the country's disaster management agency.

Indonesia is located on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Hollywood's role in South Sudan's independence

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Sudan: Set for divorce

• How do you set up a nation?
• 'He died for this day'
• What next for the north?
• Acrimonious split?

The Republic of South Sudan will soon be the world's newest nation.

Its independence on Saturday will be celebrated in the United States by Republicans and by Democrats alike, and by Christian conservatives alongside Hollywood liberals.
All have been vocal advocates in the US for an end to war in Sudan that has taken millions of lives and resulted in accusations of genocide.
These advocates include actors Don Cheadle and George Clooney, known to some in the US as "Mr Sudan".
Mr Clooney, convinced by activist friends to use his star power to draw attention to the crisis in Sudan, led a rally in Washington and delivered a speech on Sudan at the United Nations in 2006.
"Everyone feels like this is one issue they can all be on the same side on, and there aren't many of those," Mr Clooney said in an interview.
On the other side, are evangelical Christians determined to stop what they claimed was the persecution and killing of Christians by Muslims from northern Sudan.
Evangelical churches began building hospitals, schools and churches in the mostly animist and Christian south in the 1990s.
Under pressure
In 2004, evangelical groups pressed then-President George W Bush - himself a born-again Christian - to send troops to Sudan.
The president did not go that far but he did impose tough economic sanctions on Sudan and press the Khartoum government to negotiate a peace deal with rebels in the south that was signed in 2005.

George Clooney was in South Sudan for January's independence referendum

 

But did the lobbying and campaigning by evangelicals and Hollywood celebrities make a difference?
A member of the Bush administration, the former ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, thinks so.
"South Sudan captured the public's imagination more than has happened elsewhere in Africa because Christians in Sudan used their grapevine to let Christians in America know that Muslims were persecuting them."
It reminded people, says Mr Campbell, "of the persecution of the Jews in the Soviet Union and elsewhere." Mr Campbell says the role celebrities played was important, too.
"Celebrities made all of this known, in their way, to ordinary people and made it part of the conversation to people who would otherwise not pay much attention to what was happening overseas."
Enoch Awejok, an official at South Sudan's embassy in Washington, also believes the lobbying and campaigning made a difference.
"Without George Clooney and the churches, the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] would not have occurred," he says.
"And they still have an effective role to play in resolving the outstanding issues in Sudan."
Cool cause

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“Start Quote

I just wish people would be more open to learn about things instead of looking at because a celebrity is involved and all of a sudden people want to be involved”

End Quote Mari Malek Southern Sudan Initiatives

Sudanese expatriates in the United States have campaigned for their country, too.

But New York-based fashion model Mari Malek, born in southern Sudan, founder of the charity Southern Sudan Initiatives, worries that without the involvement of celebrities many Americans would not have been interested in Sudan, at all.
"I just wish people would be more open to learn about things instead of looking at because a celebrity is involved and all of a sudden people want to be involved," says Ms Malek.
"I think people should be more open-minded instead of looking at it as a cool thing."
Sudan became "cool" to Americans looking for a cause to support in 2003 when the film Lost Boys of Sudan was released.
This was a documentary about the remarkable story of the hundreds of Sudanese boys who fled the civil war, walked for weeks to Ethiopia, where their refugee camps were attacked, forcing them to flee to Kenya, before they were finally allowed into the US.
The film helped make the plight of the people of Sudan known and make it a cause many Americans wanted to be involved in.
Ger Duany is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. An actor who lives now in Harlem, in New York City, Duany was featured in the Hollywood film I Heart Huckabees.
Duany says he made sure to lobby and tell his co-stars on the film - Dustin Hoffman and Mark Wahlberg - what he faced in Sudan.

All you need to know about South Sudan's independence

"I spoke to a lot of guys and they were very supportive people, Mark Wahlberg mostly, but I think in a way more could have been done. We are not free," says Duany, who plans on being in South Sudan to celebrate its official independence on 9 July.
South Sudan has enjoyed a lot of support in the United States.
But now that it is about to achieve its independence some are concerned that Americans who campaigned and lobbied on its behalf, will find some other "cool" cause to occupy them.
If this does happen, says Ms Malek, then Sudanese expatriates in the US will do whatever they have to to ensure their new country is not forgotten.
"I think that the new generation of South Sudan people who migrated here to the USA are going to keep the momentum going," she says.
"So, with or without the celebrities, I think we are strong enough to keep pushing the momentum."
As for Mr Campbell, the former Bush administration ambassador to Nigeria, he says Americans will be content to turn their attention elsewhere if after 9 July, boundary lines between north and south are respected and there is agreement on how the oil revenue will be divided up.
If, however, says Mr Campbell, "we see the kind of bloodshed we have seen over the past several weeks then I don't think American attention or interest in Sudan and South Sudan will dissipate, at all."

Harry Potter premiere: Stars and fans bid tearful goodbye

 

An emotional JK Rowling thanked fans and the cast at the premiere

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A tearful JK Rowling said thank you to thousands of Harry Potter fans who packed London's Trafalgar Square on Thursday at the world premiere of the final film.

Despite torrential rain earlier, the sun shone down as stars of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II spent more than three hours signing autographs.

Daniel Radcliffe, who has played the boy wizard since he was 11, told fans the films would be with them "for the rest of their lives".

Speaking from a stage next to Nelson's column, Potter creator Rowling thanked the actors for "the amazing things they did for my favourite characters".

 

Daniel Radcliffe: "I'm just so proud of this last Harry Potter film"

Turning to the fans, she said: "Thank you for queuing up for the books for all those years, for camping out in a wet Trafalgar Square."

Fans back chanted "Thank you!" and Rowling said: "No, no, I'm already crying."

Radcliffe, who had earlier flown in from New York, said that Harry's story would never end.

"Each and every person, not just here in this square but around the world who have watched these films for the last 10 years, they will always carry the films with them for the rest of their lives," he told fans.

Michael Gambon, who plays wizard Dumbledore, told the BBC he was sad that it was all over and expressed "astonishment" at the reception.

 

The premiere took over the whole of Trafalgar Square

Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley, thanked the screaming fans saying making the films had been "the best part of my life".

Grint and co-star Emma Watson spent hours on the red carpet signing autographs.

And Clemence Poesy, who plays Fleur Delacour, said: "I'm overwhelmed by it all."

Critical praise

Fans from across the UK, and as far as China and Argentina, were in Trafalgar Square to see the cast. Many had been been staking out their spot beside the enormous red carpet since Monday.

As the stars walked the carpet, fans thrust out copies of the final Potter book to be signed.

Many were dressed in Hogwarts robes and bore lightning flashes on their foreheads.

Others waved placards reading "We're all potty about Potter", "Potter 'til I die" and "Harry Potter is over. See you in therapy".

Other cast members on the red carpet included Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), and Julie Walters (Molly Weasley).

The carpet - which stretched three-quarters of a mile (1.2km) from Trafalgar Square to Leicester Square where the film was screened - is believed to be longest in the world.

 

JK Rowling on the "extraordinary" send-off for the Harry Potter films

Leicester Square, where premieres traditionally take place, is currently undergoing extensive renovation.

The entire Potter film series has so far earned more than £4bn worldwide.

It has been 10 years since the first movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which made stars of its young cast, Radcliffe, Watson and Grint.

Critics have so far praised the eighth film, with The Sun newspaper saying "the final instalment is still brimming with the old Potter magic".

The London Evening Standard saved its highest praise for the film's technical achievement, calling the special effects "the real magic, and perhaps our last authentic industry".

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part II is released on 15 July

TOP STORY OF PAKISTAN

Pakistan's forex reserves hit all-time high of $18.25bn

KARACHI: Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves reached an all-time high of $18.25 billion in the week ending July 2, following inflows of more than $400 million that included loans from multilateral donors, a central bank official said on Thursday.

Reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) rose to $14.79 billion from $14.02 billion a week ago, and those held by commercial banks edged to $3.46 billion up from $3.45 billion, said SBP chief spokesman Syed Wasimuddin.

"During the week we received inflows of $411 million, which pushed the reserves to an all-time high level," he said.

"These inflows included a loan of $191.9 million from the World Bank, and another loan of $196.8 million from the Asian Development Bank."

Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves totalled $17.47 billion in the previous week, reaching a pervious high of $17.95 billion during the week ending March 26.

Higher export proceeds and a record inflow of remittances have helped Pakistan's forex reserves grow steadily.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis topped $10 billion for the first time during the 2010/11 fiscal year, hitting $10.1 billion in the first 11 months, an increase of 25.20 percent compared with the same period last year, according to data from the SBP.

Foreign exchange reserves were boosted in January by more than $633 million when the United States provided funds for military and logistical support for Pakistan's campaign against a Taliban insurgency.

In May 2010, Pakistan received $1.13 billion in the fifth tranche of an $11 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout programme.

The two sides are due to meet this month to discuss the possible release of the sixth tranche