Photo Of The Year

Photo Credit: http://www.boston.com

Italian Premier Silivio Berlusconi and media tycoon lost half a litre of blood after being hit in the face with a plaster souvenir of a replica of Milan’s famously jagged cathedral, the Duomo during an attack on him at a rally in Milan on 13th Dec (Sunday night). The Italy’s billionaire leader suffered a fractured nose and two broken teeth which took place as he mingled with the crowd in the city. He was cut under one eye and his top lip was split in two places by an attacker with a long history of mental illness.

The attack occurred at a time when Mr. Berlusconi, one of Italy’s wealthiest men, is embroiled in a sex scandal, a divorce case with his wife and public protests demanding his resignation.

Rihanna Free To Be Raunchy At New Year’s Gig

Organisers behind Rihanna upcoming New Year’s Eve gig (31Dec09) in the United Arab Emirates have dismissed reports they’ve ordered the singer to tone down her act.

Tabloid reports suggest the Umbrella singer is set to cover up for her concert at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi to avoid offending any conservative fans.

All Eyes On Murdoch in 2010

With a global empire stretching across four continents, with assets in television, newspapers, the internet, films and books, Rupert Murdoch always is watched closely.

Murdoch watchers are expected to be even busier in 2010 as the media mogul tries to engineer the biggest structural change in the industry over the past 30 years.

Israeli Nuclear Whistleblower Under House Arrest

Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu arrives at a Jerusalem court. Photograph: Gali Tibbon/AFP/Getty Images

Mordechai Vanunu, who served 18 years in prison after he revealed Israel’s secret nuclear programme, has been placed under house arrest pending criminal charges for allegedly breaching the terms of his 2004 release, which includes a ban on contacts with foreigners.

A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said Vanunu was accused of meeting with “a number of foreigners”. The spokesman, however, did not specify who the foreigners were or where they came from.

Barrack’s Millions

Sir, as a concerned Barbadian citizen and tax payer, I hope that you will permit me enough space in your publication to discuss Al Barrack and the $60 million owed to him by our Government.

I recall hearing about Al Barrack and the monies owed to him in the media a few years ago, as well as in recent times. According to a an online article on the Nation newspapers’ website, Prime Minister David Thompson said: “He will definitely be paid” and “There has never been an occasion when the Government of Barbados has had an obligation that it has not eventually paid.”

Cancer Mum Recovers After Using Mistletoe Instead Of Chemotherapy

A mum is recovering from cancer after she turned down chemotherapy and used mistletoe instead.

Joan van Holsteijn, 53, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma after tumours were discovered in her leg.

Rihanna To Cover Up For Abu Dhabi Gig

Rihanna is scrambling to find a modest stage costume after she was asked to tone down her raunchy live act for an upcoming performance in the United Arab Emirates on New Year’s Eve (31Dec09).

The Umbrella singer, who is known for her daring and revealing outfits, will have to cover up when she takes the stage to ring in the New Year (10) at the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi – so as not to offend any conservative fans.

Berlusconi Wants Mafia-Free Italy By 2013

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to defeat organised crime in the country by 2013.

“The mafia is a pathological phenomenon that we want to defeat once and for all by the end of this term in office,” Mr Berlusconi told Italy’s national radio.

“No government in the history of the republic has acted with as much determination and efficiency in the fight against criminal organisations”.

Druids A Day Early For Solstice

Pagan worshippers who braved freezing temperatures to celebrate the winter solstice at Stonehenge were dismayed to discover that they had turned up on the wrong day.

See more: Religion

Brazil ‘black magic’ Needle Abuse

 

Fifty needles ... this TV grab shows an X-ray and a picture of the stomach of the first boy. Photo: AFP

A new case of a boy stuck with several sewing needles as part of a black magic rite has surfaced in Brazil where another boy nearly lost his life to such a practice.The two-year-old boy in the northern state of Maranhao was apparently perforated with the slivers by his father, police told AFP on Wednesday.

“Everything indicates the father participated in black magic rituals. He has been put in preventive custody for five days, and that could be extended for another five days,” said the investigating officer, police chief Armando Pacheco.

AA Plane Crashes In Jamaica

An injured American Airlines flight 331 passenger is being pushed in a wheelchair by a member of the flight crewl at the Norman Manley International Airport last night. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Forty passengers were reported injured when an American Airlines plane crashed and broke in two after landing at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston shortly after 10:00 last night.

“The injured passengers have been taken to the Kingston Public Hospital,” Information Minister Daryl Vaz told the Observer. “There are no reports of fatalities.”

Flight AA331, a Boeing 737-800, had just arrived from Miami in pouring rain with 148 passengers and a crew of six when the accident occurred.

Junk Food To Be Tax

Taiwan is planning the world’s first tax on junk food in a bid to encourage the public to eat healthily and cut obesity rates.

The Bureau of Health Promotion is drafting a Bill to levy the special tax on food deemed unhealthy, such as sugary drinks, candy, cakes, fast food and alcohol. Revenue from the tax would finance groups promoting health awareness or subsidise the island’s cash-strapped national health insurance programme, the report said.

‘Huge Deal’ As Twitter Finally Turns Profit

Twitter has reached profitability after signing deals with Google and Microsoft to make the micro-blogging service searchable on the internet, BusinessWeek magazine reported.

BusinessWeek, which was bought in October by financial news agency Bloomberg, said Twitter had signed a $US15 million ($16.8 million) data-mining deal with Google and a $US10 million agreement with Microsoft.

See more: Tech News/Media

Swizz Bank Fined For Violating Cuba Blockade

The US government has levied a fine of US$536 million on Credit Suisse Bank, Switzerland’s second largest bank, for carrying out transactions that violate the US blockade of Cuba and helped “enemies” of Washington such as Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma.

The announcement was made by US Attorney General Eric Holder, who said that in the particular case of Cuba, Credit Suisse made 32 electronic transactions to the tune of over $323,000.

In announcing the agreement with the Switzerland-based bank that allowed the US investigators have access to its records, Holder said that “the criminal behaviour of Credit Suisse, because of its implication and complicity, is simply stunning.”

Israel Harvested Organs Illegally

Israel has admitted that in the 1990s, its forensic pathologists harvested organs from dead bodies, including Palestinians, without their families’ permission.

The issue emerged with publication of an interview with the then-head of Israel’s Abu Kabir forensic institute, Jehuda Hiss. The interview was conducted in 2000 by an American academic, who released it because of a huge controversy last summer over an allegation by a Swedish newspaper that Israel was killing Palestinians to harvest their organs. Israel hotly denied the charge.

Dubai World Given Chance To Pay Debts

Dubai World’s leading banking creditors will attempt to force smaller lenders to accept a restructuring of the company’s $22 billion (£13.6 billion)debt at a meeting today.

State-backed Dubai World will hold talks with representatives of more than 90 banks in an effort to secure agreement for a six-month suspension of all debt repayments.

The Times has learnt that leading creditors have signalled before the meeting that they are prepared to agree to the standstill and will attempt to force smaller banks into accepting a restructuring of the debts.

Rihanna Covers January GQ

This was posted against  my better judgement but the reason I did is simply because I have a few words to say about this latest judgement call.

Home Owner Jailed, Burglar Goes Free

A businessman who fought off knife-wielding thugs after his family was threatened has been jailed for 30 months.

The case prompted renewed debate over the level of force that home owners can use against raiders.

Munir Hussain, chairman of the Asian Business Council, was praised by a judge for his “courage” in defending his wife and three children from an attack but then jailed for the violence of his response. One of his attackers was spared a jail sentence.

Anti Defamation League vs Faith & Freedom

It is difficult to write about Jewish traitors, but I have the obligation to do so. My life as an American and a Jew is rooted in one miracle: individual liberty and freedom of speech and conscience. We are living in dangerous times, times when men of good will are afraid to speak out. There are some things you cannot say in America today.

I will say them anyway.

For years, I have noticed something curious about religion in America, Israel, and elsewhere. When I go into an establishment to pray, I notice how thick the carpet is. The gold and silver on doors and paneling’s. The “honorees” abounding with their plaques and pictures adorning walls and halls. I have prayed in many different shuls (synagogues) throughout the world, and I admit a proclivity toward those humbler, more “hamish” (homey) environs, with the simple wood benches and plain floors.

Climate Change Swindle: Grounds For World Dictatorship?

“There has been an relenting quarter-century of one-sided indoctrination of the Western world by the media and various scientists and governments concerning a coming carbon dioxide-induced global warming disaster ……. (This is) but the tip of a giant iceberg of a well- organised international climate warming conspiracy.”

Dr. William Gray, one of America’s best hurricane forecasters

With unprecedented audacity, a clique of climate scientists, a majority of the media, and an array of governments are trying to uphold the fairy tale of anthropogenic climate change, even though the recently published e-mails from East Anglia University have totally confirmed the suspicion of innumerable serious scientists that there is no evidence for global warming.