Friday, May 30, 2008
CRANE COLLAPSES ON MANHATTAN'S UPPER EAST SIDE
A construction crane has collapsed on New York's Upper East Side.
The Fire Department says it has pulled people out of the wreckage at East 91st Street and First Avenue. Their conditions are not immediately known.
The top floor of a nearby high-rise apartment building has been damaged. Firefighters and rescue workers are continuing to search through the wreckage.
In March, a 20-story crane broke away from an apartment tower under construction and toppled over, killing seven.
The Fire Department says it has pulled people out of the wreckage at East 91st Street and First Avenue. Their conditions are not immediately known.
The top floor of a nearby high-rise apartment building has been damaged. Firefighters and rescue workers are continuing to search through the wreckage.
In March, a 20-story crane broke away from an apartment tower under construction and toppled over, killing seven.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE MEETS ROCK BAND KISS
The Kiss Army fan club has an enthusiastic new recruit: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In a departure from her normally staid diplomatic duties, Rice met the legendary glam rock quartet when they happened to share a hotel in the Swedish capital. Rice was in Stockholm on Thursday for an international conference on Iraq. Kiss had a sold-out gig to play on Friday.
"I was thrilled," Rice said of her late-night encounter with frontman Gene Simmons and bandmates Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in the executive lounge of the Sheraton Hotel where they signed autographs and handed out backstage passes and T-shirts to her staff.
"It was really fun to meet Kiss and Gene Simmons," she told reporters, noting they seemed well informed about current events. The band had asked if she could stop by after she finished dinner with the Swedish foreign minister and Rice readily agreed, she said.
Simmons and his crew, who are on a European tour, weren't wearing their trademark stage makeup, but were recognizable as rock stars to even non-fans by their hair, according to State Department officials who were with Rice.
Rice, a classically trained pianist, said she has eclectic musical tastes ranging from Beethoven to Bruce Springsteen. Hard stadium rockers like Kiss are included in the mix and Rice said her favorite tune of theirs is "Rock and Roll All Nite."But, she conceded she had never seen the group in concert.
In fact, although she frequently attends classical music performances, Rice claims to have been to only four rock concerts in her life. The first was in the early 1960s when she went as a 10-year-old to see Paul Revere and the Raiders in her home state of Alabama.
After her family moved to Colorado, Rice went at the age of 16 went on her first date with an Air Force cadet to see Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. She later saw Earth, Wind and Fire in Denver and her last rock and roll show was a U2 concert in Washington, she said.
"I was thrilled," Rice said of her late-night encounter with frontman Gene Simmons and bandmates Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in the executive lounge of the Sheraton Hotel where they signed autographs and handed out backstage passes and T-shirts to her staff.
"It was really fun to meet Kiss and Gene Simmons," she told reporters, noting they seemed well informed about current events. The band had asked if she could stop by after she finished dinner with the Swedish foreign minister and Rice readily agreed, she said.
Simmons and his crew, who are on a European tour, weren't wearing their trademark stage makeup, but were recognizable as rock stars to even non-fans by their hair, according to State Department officials who were with Rice.
Rice, a classically trained pianist, said she has eclectic musical tastes ranging from Beethoven to Bruce Springsteen. Hard stadium rockers like Kiss are included in the mix and Rice said her favorite tune of theirs is "Rock and Roll All Nite."But, she conceded she had never seen the group in concert.
In fact, although she frequently attends classical music performances, Rice claims to have been to only four rock concerts in her life. The first was in the early 1960s when she went as a 10-year-old to see Paul Revere and the Raiders in her home state of Alabama.
After her family moved to Colorado, Rice went at the age of 16 went on her first date with an Air Force cadet to see Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. She later saw Earth, Wind and Fire in Denver and her last rock and roll show was a U2 concert in Washington, she said.
CHEMICAL FIRE, RAIN HAMPER CHINA QUAKE RECOVERY
A stockpile of chemicals being used to disinfect an earthquake-shattered Chinese town ignited Thursday and injured scores of soldiers doing relief work, adding to a day of problems for urgent recovery efforts.
Heavy rain also added to the misery of crowds of homeless survivors living in tents or lean-tos, and hampered troops rushing to drain a quake-spawned lake before it floods a valley filled with villages.
The chemical fire took place in the town of Leigu, in devastated Beichuan county. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that more than 800 people were evacuated to avoid a cloud of dense chlorine gas caused by the blaze.
As in many destroyed towns, officials have been spraying disinfecting bleach on streets and rubble in an effort to prevent disease breakouts. Thousands of people are still missing and their bodies could be buried in the rubble, while rats and other scavengers have been reported in some places.
But one expert said the spraying of bleach on rubble has little effect except perhaps a psychological one for victims.
"It really doesn't make much sense because it's not doing much good," said Claude de Ville de Goyet, the retired emergency preparedness director for the Pan American Health Organization and a consultant who works disaster sites. "It's cosmetic."He said that even if there were a cholera outbreak — which there is not — spraying the surface of rubble would not help. Bleach does work well to disinfect water.
State-run television showed smoke billowing over Leigu and reported that a stockpile of bleach powder had ignited in a storage building. CCTV footage showed soldiers spraying down the building and extinguishing the threat, and then several soldiers who were gasping for air being treated by medics.
"The soldiers have inhaled the fumes, it has affected their bodies, and they are in the military hospital now," said a soldier, identified by CCTV as the leader of the fire crew. His name was not given. He said 61 soldiers were injured. Xinhua reported that four people were injured. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the different injury tolls.
It was not immediately clear why the bleach ignited, though substances in it can turn explosive if heated or mixed with hydrocarbons such as those in diesel fuel.
Rain, meanwhile, grounded helicopters helping in operations to drain the Tangjiashan lake, which formed above Beichuan town after a quake-triggered landslide blocked a river.
With roads to the area cut off, helicopters have airlifted 40 heavy earth-moving machines to dig drainage channels. Heavy rain prevented aircraft from flying Thursday, CCTV reported, though workers were able to continue clearing debris. The rain added marginally to the rising waters, but was a minor factor compared to the river feeding into the lake.
In three days of around-the-clock work, troops have dug a 50-yard-wide channel running 300 yards long, CCTV said, without saying how much further work was needed.
The government Thursday raised the confirmed death toll from the quake to 68,516, with 19,350 people still missing. The government has said it expects the final tally to surpass 80,000.
The rain made conditions worse for the 5 million people left homeless by the quake, increasing the threat of more landslides.
"Before the earthquake the mountains here were completely covered with trees and it was green everywhere. You could not see any naked rock in the mountains," said Zhou Liqiong, resident of Hanwang town. "Now the continuous landslides have changed the look of the place. You can see the naked mountains everywhere."
Some 158,000 people downstream from Tangjiashan lake have been evacuated, and officials have pledged to warn other nearby residents in case of flooding so they have time to flee. Troops have sealed off Beichuan to the public.Of 34 lakes created by the earthquake, 28 are at risk of bursting, Xinhua said.
The military released some details of the massive recovery effort. Lu Dengming, commander for the area around Chengdu, the capital of hardest-hit Sichuan province, said more than 2,500 miles of damaged roads have been repaired and 70 million cubic feet of ruins cleared, the official Xinhua New Agency reported.
Some 178,000 troops, militia and reservists were taking part in the operation, and had delivered more than 510,000 tons of relief materials by land and air, including tents and prefabricated houses and schools, Lu said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing was in talks with Tokyo about the sensitive issue of using the Japanese military to deliver earthquake relief, in what would be the first significant military dispatch involving the two countries since World War II. No decision was made Thursday.
Japan invaded China and conquered large parts of it in the 1930s before being defeated by the Allies in 1945, and many Chinese still strongly resent Japan for its military aggression.
Japanese media reported Friday that the government had decided against using it military for the mission.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is visiting China, will travel to the disaster region Friday, Qin said.
Also Thursday, the head of the world's most famous panda reserve, badly damaged by the earthquake, said it was looking for a new home.
"What I'm worrying about are secondary disasters, such as severe aftershocks," Zhang Hemin, chief of the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, said by phone. "The road is easily blocked by rocks falling from the mountain. There would be no way to get the food in."
One panda remains missing. Conditions remain so bad that the government last week arranged an emergency food shipment of about 5 tons of bamboo for the 47 pandas still at the reserve. Some pandas have been moved to another breeding center in Chengdu, and eight were flown to Beijing last weekend for a previously scheduled stay for the Olympics.
Heavy rain also added to the misery of crowds of homeless survivors living in tents or lean-tos, and hampered troops rushing to drain a quake-spawned lake before it floods a valley filled with villages.
The chemical fire took place in the town of Leigu, in devastated Beichuan county. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that more than 800 people were evacuated to avoid a cloud of dense chlorine gas caused by the blaze.
As in many destroyed towns, officials have been spraying disinfecting bleach on streets and rubble in an effort to prevent disease breakouts. Thousands of people are still missing and their bodies could be buried in the rubble, while rats and other scavengers have been reported in some places.
But one expert said the spraying of bleach on rubble has little effect except perhaps a psychological one for victims.
"It really doesn't make much sense because it's not doing much good," said Claude de Ville de Goyet, the retired emergency preparedness director for the Pan American Health Organization and a consultant who works disaster sites. "It's cosmetic."He said that even if there were a cholera outbreak — which there is not — spraying the surface of rubble would not help. Bleach does work well to disinfect water.
State-run television showed smoke billowing over Leigu and reported that a stockpile of bleach powder had ignited in a storage building. CCTV footage showed soldiers spraying down the building and extinguishing the threat, and then several soldiers who were gasping for air being treated by medics.
"The soldiers have inhaled the fumes, it has affected their bodies, and they are in the military hospital now," said a soldier, identified by CCTV as the leader of the fire crew. His name was not given. He said 61 soldiers were injured. Xinhua reported that four people were injured. It was not immediately possible to reconcile the different injury tolls.
It was not immediately clear why the bleach ignited, though substances in it can turn explosive if heated or mixed with hydrocarbons such as those in diesel fuel.
Rain, meanwhile, grounded helicopters helping in operations to drain the Tangjiashan lake, which formed above Beichuan town after a quake-triggered landslide blocked a river.
With roads to the area cut off, helicopters have airlifted 40 heavy earth-moving machines to dig drainage channels. Heavy rain prevented aircraft from flying Thursday, CCTV reported, though workers were able to continue clearing debris. The rain added marginally to the rising waters, but was a minor factor compared to the river feeding into the lake.
In three days of around-the-clock work, troops have dug a 50-yard-wide channel running 300 yards long, CCTV said, without saying how much further work was needed.
The government Thursday raised the confirmed death toll from the quake to 68,516, with 19,350 people still missing. The government has said it expects the final tally to surpass 80,000.
The rain made conditions worse for the 5 million people left homeless by the quake, increasing the threat of more landslides.
"Before the earthquake the mountains here were completely covered with trees and it was green everywhere. You could not see any naked rock in the mountains," said Zhou Liqiong, resident of Hanwang town. "Now the continuous landslides have changed the look of the place. You can see the naked mountains everywhere."
Some 158,000 people downstream from Tangjiashan lake have been evacuated, and officials have pledged to warn other nearby residents in case of flooding so they have time to flee. Troops have sealed off Beichuan to the public.Of 34 lakes created by the earthquake, 28 are at risk of bursting, Xinhua said.
The military released some details of the massive recovery effort. Lu Dengming, commander for the area around Chengdu, the capital of hardest-hit Sichuan province, said more than 2,500 miles of damaged roads have been repaired and 70 million cubic feet of ruins cleared, the official Xinhua New Agency reported.
Some 178,000 troops, militia and reservists were taking part in the operation, and had delivered more than 510,000 tons of relief materials by land and air, including tents and prefabricated houses and schools, Lu said.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing was in talks with Tokyo about the sensitive issue of using the Japanese military to deliver earthquake relief, in what would be the first significant military dispatch involving the two countries since World War II. No decision was made Thursday.
Japan invaded China and conquered large parts of it in the 1930s before being defeated by the Allies in 1945, and many Chinese still strongly resent Japan for its military aggression.
Japanese media reported Friday that the government had decided against using it military for the mission.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who is visiting China, will travel to the disaster region Friday, Qin said.
Also Thursday, the head of the world's most famous panda reserve, badly damaged by the earthquake, said it was looking for a new home.
"What I'm worrying about are secondary disasters, such as severe aftershocks," Zhang Hemin, chief of the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, said by phone. "The road is easily blocked by rocks falling from the mountain. There would be no way to get the food in."
One panda remains missing. Conditions remain so bad that the government last week arranged an emergency food shipment of about 5 tons of bamboo for the 47 pandas still at the reserve. Some pandas have been moved to another breeding center in Chengdu, and eight were flown to Beijing last weekend for a previously scheduled stay for the Olympics.
JAPAN WOMAN CAUGHT LIVING IN CLOSET
A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.
Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.
The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.
One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.
"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."
The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.
She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."
Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.
The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.
One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.
"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."
The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.
She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."
WORLD'S RAREST RHINO CAUGHT WRECKING VIDEO CAMERA
The world's rarest rhino does not like the limelight. A Javan Rhino was captured on video attacking a camera set up in an Indonesian jungle to study the habits of the animal, apparently because she sensed the lens was a threat to her calf, the WWF said Thursday.
There are around 70 Javan Rhinos in the wild, about 60 of which live in Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java island. The remainder live in Vietnam.
In the first month of operation, five infrared video traps have captured two images of the camera-shy mother and calf, said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, head of the Ujung Kulon project for the environmental group.
"It is very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan Rhino deep inside the rain forest," he said, adding the camera was undamaged and put back on its stand the day after the incident.
WWF officials say they plan to relocate several of the rhinos in the park to another part of Indonesia in the hope that they breed. Otherwise, they fear the species could be wiped out in the event of disease or natural disaster.
Rhino numbers in Indonesia over the past 50 years have been decimated by rampant poaching for horns used in traditional Chinese medicines and destruction of forests by farmers, illegal loggers and palm oil plantation companies.
Apart from the 60 Javan Rhinos, there are thought to be around 300 Sumatran rhinos still alive in isolated pockets in the forests of Malaysia and Sumatra island.
There are around 70 Javan Rhinos in the wild, about 60 of which live in Ujung Kulon National Park on the western tip of Java island. The remainder live in Vietnam.
In the first month of operation, five infrared video traps have captured two images of the camera-shy mother and calf, said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi, head of the Ujung Kulon project for the environmental group.
"It is very unusual to catch a glimpse of the Javan Rhino deep inside the rain forest," he said, adding the camera was undamaged and put back on its stand the day after the incident.
WWF officials say they plan to relocate several of the rhinos in the park to another part of Indonesia in the hope that they breed. Otherwise, they fear the species could be wiped out in the event of disease or natural disaster.
Rhino numbers in Indonesia over the past 50 years have been decimated by rampant poaching for horns used in traditional Chinese medicines and destruction of forests by farmers, illegal loggers and palm oil plantation companies.
Apart from the 60 Javan Rhinos, there are thought to be around 300 Sumatran rhinos still alive in isolated pockets in the forests of Malaysia and Sumatra island.
AMAZON- RARE UNCONTACTED TRIBE PHOTOGRAPHED
Amazon Indians from one of the world's last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with striking images released on Thursday showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows.The photographs of the tribe near the border between Brazil and Peru are rare evidence that such groups exist. A Brazilian official involved in the expedition said many of them are in increasing danger from illegal logging.
"What is happening in this region is a monumental crime against the natural world, the tribes, the fauna and is further testimony to the complete irrationality with which we, the 'civilized' ones, treat the world," Jose Carlos Meirelles was quoted as saying in a statement by the Survival International group.
One of the pictures, which can be seen on Survival International's Web site , shows two Indian men covered in bright red pigment poised to fire arrows at the aircraft while another Indian looks on.
Another photo shows about 15 Indians near thatched huts, some of them also preparing to fire arrows at the aircraft.
"The world needs to wake up to this, and ensure that their territory is protected in accordance with international law. Otherwise, they will soon be made extinct," said Stephen Corry, the director of Survival International, which supports tribal people around the world.
Of more than 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide, more than half live in either Brazil or Peru, Survival International says. It says all are in grave danger of being forced off their land, killed and ravaged by new diseases.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
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NBA: FOUL SHOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED AT END OF GAME 4
The NBA acknowledged Wednesday that a foul should have been called on the final possession of Game 4 in the Western Conference finals, which would have given the San Antonio Spurs a chance to even the series.Trailing 93-91 on Tuesday night, the Spurs inbounded the ball with 2.1 seconds left to Brent Barry, who was bumped by Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher on the floor. No foul was called, and Barry missed badly on a 3-pointer before time expired.
Spurs players and coach Gregg Popovich said a foul should not have been called, but the NBA disagreed with them after reviewing the play.
"With the benefit of instant replay, it appears a foul should have been called," NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.
Had that happened, Barry would have gone to the line for two free throws and a chance to tie the game. Instead, the defending champion Spurs trail the series 3-1 and face elimination Thursday in Los Angeles.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
NASA RELEASES FIRST IMAGES TOOK BY MARS PHOENIX
NASA released the pictures taken by the successful MARS PHOENIX which landed in mars a day before.These pictures unveils the secrets of the planet's soil condition and also the climate conditions or the research process.Look at those pictures ...........
'INDIANA JONES' EARNS $311 MILLION WORLDWIDE
The most recent Indiana Jones film more than recouped its big budget with an estimated $311 million in global box office sales through the long weekend, according to studio estimates Monday.Families went in droves to catch "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," a PG-13 adventure starring Harrison Ford as the whip-cracking archaeologist who took 19 years to return to the big screen.
Paramount Pictures estimated the action sequel made $151.1 million in the U.S. and Canada from Thursday to the holiday Monday and $160 million overseas.
It marked the second biggest Memorial Day weekend opening ever, behind only "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," which made $153 million domestically from Thursday to Monday last year.
Nearly a third of the domestic audience was made up of parents with their children, said Rob Moore, president of Paramount Worldwide Distribution.
"Adults really drove this opening. This is one of their favorite franchises and they couldn't wait to take their kids with them," Moore said.
The film cost a reported $185 million to make, even with the principal talent — Ford, director Steven Spielberg and writer George Lucas — deferring their usual fees for a greater share of the profits.
The first three Indy movies raked in $1.2 billion worldwide.
Marketing costs were undisclosed, although the latest "Indiana Jones" received a major push from Paramount. DVDs of the first three movies were re-released, they aired on TV days before the opening and huge billboards sprung up.
The final trailer for the movie rolled before the opening of Marvel Studios' "Iron Man," which was also distributed by Paramount, three weeks earlier.
"It's been a pretty good month," Moore said. "We started the month with 'Iron Man' and finished with 'Indiana Jones.'"
Other movies' receipts over the long weekend paled by comparison.
Disney's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" slashed its way to $28.6 million, for a total $96.7 million over two weeks. "Iron Man" locked up third with $25.7 million in its third week for a total of $257.8 million.
The Wachowski brothers flick "Speed Racer," distributed by Warner Bros., crawled closer to the finish line with $5.2 million for fifth, bringing its domestic total to $37.4 million. It brought in $30 million overseas, and had yet to be released in major markets France, Russia, Japan and Australia.
The studio said it was not ready to wave the checkered flag on the film, which cost $120 million to make.
"If I had my druthers I'd have it in theaters for weeks and months to come," said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.' executive vice president of distribution.
For the year so far, domestic movie revenues are down more than 4 percent at $3.4 billion, with attendance off nearly 7 percent.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," $126 million (plus $25.1 million on Thursday).
2. "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," $28.6 million.
3. "Iron Man," $25.7 million.
4. "What Happens in Vegas," $11.2 million.
5. "Speed Racer," $5.2 million.
6. "Made of Honor," $4.2 million.
7. "Baby Mama," $4.2 million.
8. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," $2.2 million.
9. "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay," $1.2 million.
10. "The Visitor," $917,000.
DIRECTOR SYDNEY POLLACK DIES AT 73 IN LOS ANGELES
Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay who achieved commercial success and critical acclaim with the gender-bending comedy "Tootsie" and the period drama "Out of Africa," has died. He was 73.Pollack died of cancer Monday afternoon at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, surrounded by family, said publicist Leslee Dart. Pollack had been diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago, said Dart.
Pollack, who occasionally appeared on the screen himself, worked with and gained the respect of Hollywood's best actors in a long career that reached prominence in the 1970s and 1980s.
"Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. A tip of the hat to a class act," George Clooney said in a statement from his publicist.
"He'll be missed terribly," Clooney said.
Last fall, he played Marty Bach opposite Clooney in "Michael Clayton," a drama that examines a law firm's fixer. The film, which Pollack co-produced, received seven Oscar nominations, including for best picture and a best actor nod for Clooney. Tilda Swinton won the Oscar for supporting actress.
Pollack was no stranger to the Academy Awards. In 1986, "Out of Africa" a romantic epic of a woman's passion set against the landscape of colonial Kenya, captured seven Oscars, including best director.
In accepting his Oscar, Pollack commended Meryl Streep, who was nominated for best actress but didn't win.
"I could not have made this movie without Meryl Streep," Pollack said. "She is astounding — personally, professionally, all ways."
Over the years, several of his other films, including "Tootsie" and "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" got several nominations, including best director nods.
Pollack's movies frequently had some of Hollywood's top actors: "Absence of Malice" with Sally Field and Paul Newman, "The Yakuza" with Robert Mitchum, "Three Days of the Condor" with Robert Redford, and "The Firm" with Tom Cruise, among others.
"Having the opportunity to know Sydney and work with him was a great gift in my life," Field said in a statement. "He was a good friend and a phenomenal director and I will cherish every moment that I ever spent with him."
In later years, he devoted increasing time to acting, appearing in Woody Allen's "Husbands and Wives," Robert Altman's "The Player," Robert Zemeckis' "Death Becomes Her," Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut."
Pollack's recent producing credits include "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Cold Mountain." His last screen appearance was in "Made of Honor," a romantic comedy currently in theaters, where he played the oft-married father of star Patrick Dempsey's character.
In recent years, Pollack also produced many independent films with filmmaker Anthony Minghella and a production company Mirage Enterprises.
The Lafayette, Ind. native was born to first-generation Russian-Americans. In high school, he fell in love with theater, a passion that prompted him forego college and move to New York and enroll in the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater.
Studying under Sanford Meisner, Pollack spent several years cutting his teeth in various areas of theater, eventually becoming Meisner's assistant.
"We started together in New York and he always excelled at everything he set out to do, his friendships and his humanity as much as his talents," said Martin Landau, a longtime close friend and associate in Actor's Studio, through spokesman Dick Guttman.
After appearing in a handful of Broadway productions in the 1950s, Pollack turned his eye to directing — where he would ultimately leave his biggest mark. He helmed "The Way We Were" (1973), "Jeremiah Johnson" (1972), "Havana" (1990) and "The Interpreter" (2005).
"Sydney let the dialogue and the emotion of a scene speak for itself. Not given to cinematic tricks, his gentle and thoughtful touch and his focus on the story let us inhabit the world he created in each film," said Michael Apted, president of the Directors Guild of America.
But Pollack, who stood over six feet tall and had a striking presence on the screen, never totally gave up acting.
At the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival, Pollack said "Tootsie" star Dustin Hoffman pushed the director into playing the actor's exasperated agent. At that point, he hadn't acted in 20 years.
Pollack said Hoffman repeatedly sent him roses with a note reading, "Please be my agent. Love, Dorothy." At that point, Pollack hadn't acted in 20 years.
"Most of the great directors that I know of were not actors, so I can't tell you it's a requirement," he said. "On the other hand, it's an enormous help."
In the 1982 movie, Hoffman plays an out-of-work actor who pretends to be a woman to land a role on a soap opera.
"I didn't think anyone would believe him as a woman," Pollack said. "But the world did, they went crazy."
Pollack was survived by his wife, Claire; two daughters, Rebecca and Rachel; his brother Bernie; and six grandchildren.
Monday, May 26, 2008
THE WORLD'S BEST PAID SOCCER PLAYERS
David Beckham's move to the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer last summer was a big score for U.S. soccer and an even bigger one for Beckham, the former captain of England's national team.The Galaxy's attendance for the five matches he played (he missed much of the season due to injury) averaged 37,659, 57% more than the team's previous record. Per game attendance for MLS as a whole rose 50% after Beck's debut, and ratings for ESPN2, one of MLS's national television partners, were up 25%.
Beckham posted huge wins off the pitch as well. Of the $49 million he made in 2007 to make him the highest-paid soccer player in the world, $12 million was salary from the Galaxy and Real Madrid, and $37 million was from image rights, including a portion of the proceeds from 300,000 Beckham Galaxy jerseys sold, and endorsements from the likes of Adidas, Pepsi and Coty.
The superstar further fueled his hype by signing a three-year Armani underwear contract last November, worth upwards of $20 million. The deal launched with a series of ads showing Beck provocatively posed in only the designer's drawers. Soccer moms have no excuse for not noticing him now.
A look at the remaining list of top paid players (salary plus incentives and endorsements) emphasizes the blurring line between athlete and celebrity. Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo's showboating on the field helped earn him $19 million, nearly half of which came from endorsements including a spot in a Fuji Xerox commercial where the Portuguese two-footer plays a matador with a soccer ball instead of a cape.
For Nike, Ronaldo laced up a pair of Mercurial Vapor IV boots and took on another formidable challenge--a race against an equally beautiful Bugatti Veyron, the fastest accelerating street car in the world. Having eclipsed Man Utd's season goal-scoring record for a winger (held by the late great George Best), and on the verge of a Premier League title and Champions League final, the 23-year old Ronaldo only needs a Posh Spice-like wife to fully eclipse Beckham's fame.
Kaká (AC Milan) followed in the footsteps of fellow Brazilians Ronaldo and Ronaldinho by capitalizing on being named FIFA's 2007 World Player of the Year, with big money endorsements with Adidas and Armani. But unlike his countrymen, this 26-year-old known by his childhood nickname (his full name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite) banks on his rare "wholesome athlete" image to earn almost half his income from sponsors.
After Kaká helped the Rossoneri to a seventh Champions League crown in 2007 (and finished as the competition's top scorer with 10 goals), he removed his jersey to reveal an "I Belong to Jesus" T-shirt. He did more than wear his faith on his sleeve. Of the $18 million he earned last year, he tithed 10% to his church.
THE SEX (AND THE CITY) ECONOMY
On May 30, the company's New Line Cinema division is releasing the feature-film version of Sex and the City, following a blockbuster six-year run on its cable outlet, HBO.Chronicling the travails and triumphs of four single Manhattan women, Sex spawned a devoted female following and later a cottage industry that has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue--and not just for the media giant. From booze shakers to shoe makers, businesses continue to cash in on Sex's enduring appeal.
New Line sees the film as "the Super Bowl for women," and they're already raking in cash. The studio has tie-in deals with eight marketers, including Glacéau VitaminWater, Mercedes Benz and Skyy vodka, whose products are mentioned by the actors or appear in the film. Bag designer Judith Lieber created a jeweled "cupcake" purse for Charlotte's daughter. Vivienne Westwood designed Carrie's wedding dress and Fred Leighton made her jewelry.
But Sex and the City's influence is nothing new. The show has been a marketing bonanza for years. It made a fashion icon of star Sarah Jessica Parker, who went on to become a designer. She created her own line of clothing, called Bitten, for retailer Steve & Barry's. Every item in the Bitten line costs $19.98 or less.
Parker also launched two perfume names with Coty--"Lovely," which has had global sales of $155 million, and "Covet," a recent launch.
Kim Cattrall, who plays seductress Samantha Jones, tried to capitalize on her fictionalized persona with two books: Sexual Intelligence and Satisfaction: The Art of the Female Orgasm. They sold a combined 370,000 copies. Even Marian Jordan, the founder of Redeemed Girl Ministries who speaks to women "about the unfailing love that she has found in Jesus," took a crack at the market. Her book, entitled Sex and the City Uncovered: Exposing the Emptiness and Healing the Hurt sold under a thousand copies. (Psst--people like sex.)
The show, which made a fifth character out of New York City, attracts fans to the Big Apple in droves, and locals cash in. Location Tours offers a three-hour bus tour that stops at shops and bars that have appeared on the show. The tour costs $40 a head, and its owners say it attracts as many as 1,000 people a week. Destination on Location Travel offers "set-jetting" weekends in New York, where groups of up to twelve women are shuttled around town and given the fantasy that they're one of the four Sex characters. The price: a hefty $15,000 per person.
Another Sex winner: shoemaker Manolo Blahnik. Blahnik has been designing shoes since 1971, but became a household name when Carrie Bradshaw swooned over his gravity-defying stilettos. "Manolo Blahnik's success skyrocketed as a result of Sex and the City," says Paula Correri, accessory editor at Tobe Report, a retail consultancy. "The prices keep escalating, but women will starve themselves to score a pair of his shoes."
Ironically, though, the woman who started it all, Candace Bushnell, hasn't profited nearly as much. Bushnell turned her "Sex and the City," column in the New York Observer into a bestselling book of the same name.
Soon after, Bushnell sold HBO the rights for six figures, but didn't share in the upside. Not that she's done badly. First published in 1997, Bushnell's book has sold more than 260,000 copies since 2001. Meanwhile, the show instantly became one of HBO's highest-rated attractions when it launched in June 1998.
HBO won't disclose DVD sales figures, and there's no way of telling how many of their 39 million subscribers signed up as a result of the series. In 2004, HBO sold the rights to Sex to fellow Time Warner cable outlet TBS for $750,000 an episode. The show is syndicated in over 200 countries. HBO's online store sells 74 Sex-themed items, including a "Carrie Balconette Bra" ($94), "Samantha Thong" ($36), "Charlotte Camisole" ($90), "Miranda Martini Glass" ($12.99) and a "Mr. Big T-shirt" ($19.99).
The network will be no more specific than to say it's made "hundreds of millions of dollars" from Sex. Not bad.
PHOENIX MARS LANDER-SPACECRAFT REVEALS LOOK AT MARS' POLAR REGION
NASA's newest outpost in the solar system is a polygon-cracked terrain in Mars' northern polar region believed to hold a reservoir of ice beneath.Hours after the Phoenix Mars Lander softly landed Sunday in the Martian arctic plains, it dazzled scientists with the first-ever glimpse of the Red Planet's high northern latitudes.
A flood of images sent back by Phoenix revealed a landscape similar to what can be found in Earth's permafrost regions — geometric patterns in the soil likely related to the freezing and thawing of ground ice.
"This is a scientist's dream, right here on this landing site," principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson said in a post-landing news conference.
Phoenix landed on Mars after a 10-month, 422 million-mile journey. After a week checking out its science instruments, the lander will begin a 90-day digging mission to study whether the northern polar region possesses the raw ingredients needed for life to emerge.
Phoenix joins the twin rovers on the Martian surface, which have been exploring the equatorial plains since 2004. Unlike the mobile rovers, Phoenix was designed to stay in one spot and dig trenches in the soil.
Early indications show the lander is healthy, said Barry Goldstein, project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The images confirm the lander unfurled its solar panels, hoisted its weather mast and unwrapped the protective covering of its 8-foot-long robotic arm. It'll be several days before the arm will be unstowed.
"Everything just worked like a charm," said Goldstein, who kept up a JPL tradition by passing out bags of lucky peanuts on landing day.
Mission control erupted in cheers when a radio signal from Phoenix was detected after a hair-raising plunge through the atmosphere that required the lander to slow itself down from over 12,000 mph to a 5 mph touchdown using a combination of friction, parachute and thrusters.
Mission managers pumped their fists and hugged one another after the confirmation signal was received.
"They will be remembered forever that they are the first people to explore the polar region of Mars. There's no telling what discoveries would be seen over the next 90 days," said JPL director Charles Elachi.
It's the first successful soft landing on Mars since the twin Viking landers touched down in 1976. Rovers Spirit and Opportunity used a combination of parachutes and cushioned air bags to bounce to the surface four years ago.
Phoenix avoided the fate of another polar explorer, the Mars Polar Lander, which crashed into the Martian south pole after prematurely shutting off its engines in 1999. Phoenix inherited the hardware of a lander that was canceled after the Polar Lander disaster and carried similar instruments flown on the ill-fated 1999 mission.
Phoenix's descent was nearly flawless. The only unexpected turn occurred when it opened its parachute seven seconds later than planned, causing the spacecraft to settle slightly downrange from the bull's-eye target, said Ed Sedivy, program manager at Lockheed Martin Corp., which built the spacecraft.
Phoenix planted its three legs in a broad, shallow valley littered with pebble-size rocks that should not pose any hazard to the spacecraft, project managers said.
"I know it looks a little like a parking lot, but that's a safe place to land. There's not any big rocks," Smith said.
During its prime mission, Phoenix will dig through layers of soil to reach the ice, believed to be buried inches to a foot deep. It will study whether the ice melted during a time in Mars' recent past and will analyze soil samples for traces of organic compounds, which would be a possible indicator of conditions favorable for primitive life. Phoenix is not equipped to detect past or present alien life.
The $420 million Phoenix mission is led by University of Arizona and managed by JPL.
A flood of images sent back by Phoenix revealed a landscape similar to what can be found in Earth's permafrost regions — geometric patterns in the soil likely related to the freezing and thawing of ground ice.
"This is a scientist's dream, right here on this landing site," principal investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson said in a post-landing news conference.
Phoenix landed on Mars after a 10-month, 422 million-mile journey. After a week checking out its science instruments, the lander will begin a 90-day digging mission to study whether the northern polar region possesses the raw ingredients needed for life to emerge.
Phoenix joins the twin rovers on the Martian surface, which have been exploring the equatorial plains since 2004. Unlike the mobile rovers, Phoenix was designed to stay in one spot and dig trenches in the soil.
Early indications show the lander is healthy, said Barry Goldstein, project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The images confirm the lander unfurled its solar panels, hoisted its weather mast and unwrapped the protective covering of its 8-foot-long robotic arm. It'll be several days before the arm will be unstowed.
"Everything just worked like a charm," said Goldstein, who kept up a JPL tradition by passing out bags of lucky peanuts on landing day.
Mission control erupted in cheers when a radio signal from Phoenix was detected after a hair-raising plunge through the atmosphere that required the lander to slow itself down from over 12,000 mph to a 5 mph touchdown using a combination of friction, parachute and thrusters.
Mission managers pumped their fists and hugged one another after the confirmation signal was received.
"They will be remembered forever that they are the first people to explore the polar region of Mars. There's no telling what discoveries would be seen over the next 90 days," said JPL director Charles Elachi.
It's the first successful soft landing on Mars since the twin Viking landers touched down in 1976. Rovers Spirit and Opportunity used a combination of parachutes and cushioned air bags to bounce to the surface four years ago.
Phoenix avoided the fate of another polar explorer, the Mars Polar Lander, which crashed into the Martian south pole after prematurely shutting off its engines in 1999. Phoenix inherited the hardware of a lander that was canceled after the Polar Lander disaster and carried similar instruments flown on the ill-fated 1999 mission.
Phoenix's descent was nearly flawless. The only unexpected turn occurred when it opened its parachute seven seconds later than planned, causing the spacecraft to settle slightly downrange from the bull's-eye target, said Ed Sedivy, program manager at Lockheed Martin Corp., which built the spacecraft.
Phoenix planted its three legs in a broad, shallow valley littered with pebble-size rocks that should not pose any hazard to the spacecraft, project managers said.
"I know it looks a little like a parking lot, but that's a safe place to land. There's not any big rocks," Smith said.
During its prime mission, Phoenix will dig through layers of soil to reach the ice, believed to be buried inches to a foot deep. It will study whether the ice melted during a time in Mars' recent past and will analyze soil samples for traces of organic compounds, which would be a possible indicator of conditions favorable for primitive life. Phoenix is not equipped to detect past or present alien life.
The $420 million Phoenix mission is led by University of Arizona and managed by JPL.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
CHINESE PAINTING SELLS FOR RECORD 9.7 MILLION DOLLARS IN HONG KONG
A painting that uses imagery from China's Cultural Revolution sold for 9.7 million dollars at an auction in Hong Kong, setting yet another new record for Chinese contemporary art.Zeng Fanzhi's "Mask Series 1996 No.6" sold for 74.2 million Hong Kong dollars at the evening sale run by auction house Christie's on Saturday, a spokeswoman for the event told.
The painting depicts eight figures wearing red scarves reminiscent of the "Little Red Guards," a movement inspired by Communist chief Mao Zedong that persecuted millions in China in the 1960s and 1970s for capitalist ideology.
The painting pipped the record for Chinese contemporary art set last November in Hong Kong by Cai Guoqiang's "Set of 14 drawings for Asia-Pacific economic co-operation," which sold for 9.5 million US dollars, the spokeswoman said.The evening sale fetched a total of 60.1 million dollars.
"With robust bidding from all corners of the globe, collectors and connoisseurs enthusiastically vied for the best quality works," Eric Chang, head of Asian contemporary art for Christie's said in a statement.Much of the work clinching the huge auction prices uses imagery from the Cultural Revolution and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
The painting depicts eight figures wearing red scarves reminiscent of the "Little Red Guards," a movement inspired by Communist chief Mao Zedong that persecuted millions in China in the 1960s and 1970s for capitalist ideology.
The painting pipped the record for Chinese contemporary art set last November in Hong Kong by Cai Guoqiang's "Set of 14 drawings for Asia-Pacific economic co-operation," which sold for 9.5 million US dollars, the spokeswoman said.The evening sale fetched a total of 60.1 million dollars.
"With robust bidding from all corners of the globe, collectors and connoisseurs enthusiastically vied for the best quality works," Eric Chang, head of Asian contemporary art for Christie's said in a statement.Much of the work clinching the huge auction prices uses imagery from the Cultural Revolution and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
NEW ZEALAND - VIOLENT OFFENDER ARRESTED BY POLICE
NEW ZEALAND:Police have arrested an "extremely dangerous" violent offender less than seven hours after he allegedly assaulted a woman in Auckland and stole her car.Andre Charles Port, 29, was arrested in Epsom, without incident, just before 6pm.He had been on the run since 11am when he allegedly abducted a woman in Kingsland and made her drive him to Muriwai, where he allegedly assaulted and threatened her with a knife.The woman escaped and Port left the area with her car, police said.Police issued a warning to the public, saying Port was armed and extremely dangerous.Port was on extended supervision, meaning he could be recalled to prison at any time for breaching his supervision conditions.He was released from Mt Eden's Central Remand Prison in February after serving time for violence offences and breaching his probation conditions.
AUSTRALIA - GOVT WEIGHS INTO NUDE TEEN ART DEBATE
The federal government believes the problem of the sexualisation of children in all forms of media needs to be addressed, as controversy over an art exhibition featuring naked young teen girls continues.Police raided the Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, in Paddington in Sydney's eastern suburbs, just before the exhibition of Bill Henson's works was to open on Thursday.
Officers seized 20 of Henson's images, which feature a naked girl and boy said to be aged 12 and 13 years old.State and federal charges are expected to be laid over the exhibition, and the investigation has moved interstate with the girl depicted in the pictures believed to be in Victoria.
Threats were left on an answering machine at the gallery as the owners prepared to reopen the exhibition without the controversial works."There are some crackpots out there," Tony Oxley, husband of owner Roslyn, told Fairfax."We have had threats to burn the building down. It is very worrying."
The Law Society of NSW and fellow artists have backed Henson, but politicians, including Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, have expressed concern about the exhibition.
Federal Families Minister Jenny Macklin said both parents and policymakers had to draw a line in the sand on the issue.
"I think this sexualisation of children is wrong," she told the Nine Network.
"I don't agree with the photographs, but I also don't agree with the way in which children are being bombarded in many other places, whether it's billboards, whether it's on children's television.
"Children these days are just getting bombarded with sexualised images all the time, and it's that sexualisation of children that I think is wrong."
Ms Macklin said the federal government would attempt to address what she described as "very, very difficult issues" through the national framework.
The minister launched a discussion paper aimed at prompting a debate about what the federal government should be doing to better protect children from abuse and neglect. The paper will form the basis for a National Child Protection Framework.
"I think now with the internet, with multi-media, these images that some people see as art can now be displayed all over the world in a flash, and used for purposes for which they certainly were not intended, and I think a lot of parents are very, very worried about these issues," she said.
"This is about making sure we do everything we can to guarantee that children can have a childhood, that they can enjoy the wonders and excitement about being kids, not being forced to confront the things that adults have to confront."
The Art Gallery of NSW has around 48 Henson works, with no plans to take the two currently on display off exhibition.
A gallery spokeswoman said the two works, which feature naked subjects in a landscape, had been on display for a number of weeks.
"We totally respect Bill Henson's work," she said
"We've had no complaints."
Police said they were unaware of any interest in the gallery's collection.
"We don't have any information to say any other art gallery is being investigated," a police spokeswoman said.
Hetty Johnson from the child sexual assault advocacy group Bravehearts, called on the art world to consider the community outrage.
"I think it's a message to the arts world to be responsible, not to be selfish around this," she told Macquarie Radio.
"To consider ... child protection matters because it's a crisis facing our children and everybody as adults has a role to play, including the arts industry."
ROBBIE KNIEVEL JUMPS 24 TRUCKS IN OHIO
Robbie "Kaptain" Knievel successfully jumped over 24 delivery trucks Saturday night at the site of one of his father's most famous stunts.
Knievel had said he would be going 95 miles per hour during the 220-foot jump, which began from a tall ramp and was completed amid wild cheers, booming explosions and shooting flames at Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati.
After landing, the daredevil gave the crowd a thumbs-up, raced his bike back and forth and popped a wheelie.
Evel Knievel jumped 115 feet over 14 buses at Kings Island in 1975 in an event that was watched by more than half of the nation's television viewers. He died last year at the age of 69 after suffering from failing health for many years.
Robbie Knievel dedicated his stunt to his father, U.S. war veterans and those serving in the military.
CALIF. WILDFIRE GROWS DESPITE EFFORT, CALMER WINDS
GILROY, Calif. - Firefighters took advantage of cooler temperatures and calmer winds Saturday as they continued to fight a persistent wildfire in the Santa Cruz Mountains that has chewed through acres of centuries-old redwoods, destroyed at least 17 homes and displaced hundreds of people.
Efforts were also helped by the higher humidity, but a possible storm could bring lightning and stronger winds that could spread the fire, officials said.
The fire was about 25 percent contained and expected to grow to more than 6 square miles before it's brought under control, fire officials said. It has burned more than 5 square miles and destroyed 28 structures. Another 500 buildings were threatened.
Almost 2,000 residents remained under evacuation orders — more than 450 of them mandatory — while more than 3,000 personnel and a swarm of air tankers, helicopters and fire engines were deployed to the area, said Dave Shew, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. One firefighter suffered minor heat-related injuries.
"As long as we don't have this fire contained, then the homes are still threatened," Shew said. "We don't consider this to be anywhere near contained. I wouldn't say we're out of the woods yet."
Smoke from the wildfire left a haze over the San Francisco Bay area that was expected to linger through the Memorial Day weekend.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the Santa Cruz Mountains Friday to assess the damage and declared a state of emergency in Santa Cruz County to allow access to funds for the effort.
Shew said the cost of battling the blaze has risen to about $1.7 million and he expects the containment effort to continue through the weekend. Crews were focused on building fire lines to keep the blaze from growing, he said.
Officials were investigating the cause of the fire, which was first reported Thursday morning in the mountain range that separates Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. The area, about 15 miles south of San Jose, is rural but dotted with homes.
"I feel a great sadness in my heart for everybody who is involved in this event," said Kenneth Rich whose house was destroyed. "It's devastating."
To the south, the stormy weather in Southern California that got the Memorial Day weekend off to a soggy start was expected to continue through Saturday before clearing, said Stuart Seto, a weather specialist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.
OBAMA EMPATHIZES WITH CLINTON OVER KENNEDY COMMENT
Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama empathized with rival Hillary Clinton on Saturday for the firestorm she ignited by referring to the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy.
"I have learned that when you are campaigning for as many months as Senator Clinton and I have been campaigning, sometimes you get careless in terms of the statements that you make and I think that is what happened here," Obama said in an interview with Radio Isla Puerto Rico during a campaign visit to the Caribbean Island and U.S. territory.
On Friday, Clinton cited the June 1968 assassination of Kennedy during his Democratic presidential campaign to help explain why she was still in the race for the party's nomination.
"My husband (Bill Clinton) did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California," she told a South Dakota newspaper's editorial board.
Clinton's reference to the Kennedy assassination drew a quick rebuke on Friday from Obama's campaign and she apologized.
Kennedy, brother of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, was assassinated in Los Angeles just after winning the California Democratic primary.
Obama has a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates to the party's nominating convention after months of contests that began in January, but Clinton has refused to give up until the last votes are cast and counted. The Democratic nominee will face Republican John McCain in the November election.
With Puerto Rico set to hold its Democratic nominating contest next Sunday, Obama and Clinton both campaigned on the island on Saturday. Fifty-five delegates will be up for grabs in the June 1 vote, with Clinton favored to win the bulk of them. The territory cannot vote in the presidential election.
Clinton made no reference to the Kennedy remark in addressing a rally of several hundred people in the coastal town of Aguadilla after Obama went on a parade-style walk through San Juan.
Instead, she sought to rally the crowd, saying, "If you stand for me, I will fight for you every day in the White House." They responded with chants of "Hillary, Hillary."
While Clinton's remarks drew headlines and became a hot topic of debate on talk shows, her campaign made it clear it believed the flap had been overblown and would subside.
"Senator Clinton was very clear yesterday when she explained she was simply raising historical references," noting some Democratic primary campaigns had stretched into June, Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee said on Saturday.
There have long been concerns about the safety of Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president. The Illinois senator was given Secret Service protection 18 months before the November election -- earlier than any other candidate has received increased security.
Clinton's comment brought up the taboo topic of the possibility of a rival's assassination, and political analysts said the remark was a serious gaffe.
"This is serious. It's more serious because there were already questions about why Hillary Clinton was still in the race and what she was hoping for," said Calvin Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University.
"What she articulated was the most catastrophic possibility," he said. Jillson said the reference to Kennedy's assassination made the chance of Clinton being asked to be Obama's vice presidential running mate even more unlikely.
The state-by-state nominating contests end on June 3, when 15 delegates will be awarded in South Dakota and 16 in Montana. Clinton will spend much of the rest of next week campaigning in those two states.
The Democratic nominee will likely be decided by the nearly 800 superdelegates -- members of Congress and other party insiders -- free to vote for whomever they want. Most have endorsed Obama.
Puerto Rico's relationship with the United States is the central issue in the island's politics. Both Clinton and Obama support allowing Puerto Ricans to decide for themselves whether they want to try for statehood or keep their current status.
There are 3.9 million residents on the island, which has a median income half that of the poorest U.S. state, and an almost equal number of Puerto Ricans live on the mainland.
TEEN ACTOR IN UPCOMING 'HARRY POTTER' FILM KILLED
A British teenage actor playing a minor role in the upcoming "Harry Potter" film was stabbed to death during a brawl in London on Saturday, police said.Rob Knox, 18, was stabbed after he got caught up in a fight outside a bar in southwest London early Saturday, London's Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Knox plays Ravenclaw student Marcus Belby in the upcoming film "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment of the popular series set for release in November.
Warner Bros., the studio that is producing the film, said it was shocked by the news.
Knox was one of five young men taken to various hospitals after the brawl, police said. Among them was a 21-year-old who has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The fight did not appear to be gang-related, police added, but it puts the number of violent teenage deaths in London at 14 so far this year.
Knox plays Ravenclaw student Marcus Belby in the upcoming film "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince," the sixth installment of the popular series set for release in November.
Warner Bros., the studio that is producing the film, said it was shocked by the news.
Knox was one of five young men taken to various hospitals after the brawl, police said. Among them was a 21-year-old who has since been arrested on suspicion of murder.
The fight did not appear to be gang-related, police added, but it puts the number of violent teenage deaths in London at 14 so far this year.
TORNADOES RAKE OKLA. AS MIDWEST TALLIES DAMAGE
A slow-moving storm packing tornadoes and hail battered rural Oklahoma on Saturday, destroying several buildings, tearing up trees and tossing a mobile home onto a highway. The bodies of two storm victims were found in Kansas.A twister destroyed three barns at a hog farm near Lacey in Kingfisher County, about 75 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, said Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Emergency Management Department.No injuries were reported at the farm or elsewhere in the state. "It's all been out mostly in the countryside," Kingfisher County Sheriff's dispatcher Lonnie McDade said. "But that farm happened to be in the path and took a direct hit."
John Hardaway, a production manager at the farm, said the 3,900 pigs housed at the farm were kept in crates and most were not hurt.
In Garfield County, a trailer was blown onto State Highway 74 near Covington and power lines were downed, said the county's emergency manager, Mike Honigsberg.
The pace of the storm was slow for a system producing so many tornadoes, Daryl Williams, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Norman.
"It gives us time to get the warnings out, but where the tornadoes are on the ground, it creates a lot more damage," Williams said. "We've been lucky because this has been mostly rural areas, but it's not lucky if it's your farm."
Saturday's storm followed two days of violent weather in the Midwest. In Kansas, cleanup was under way a day after a storm system raked the state with at least 17 tornadoes.
That storm killed at least two people, injured at least six others and heavily damaged at least 19 homes, authorities said.
The two people killed in the storm were found Saturday in a car near Pratt, the Pratt County Sheriff's Office said. The vehicle had been blown 150 yards off a highway. Gary S. Whitlow, 33, and Kimberly S. Whitlow, 29, died.
Authorities are looking into whether lightning killed a camper in Osage County.
A Kansas Highway Patrol aircraft flew along the path of the tornado to search for other possible victims.
In northern Colorado, where a tornado struck Thursday, killing one person and damaging hundreds of homes, residents of the hard-hit farming town of Windsor were allowed into their neighborhoods Saturday to assess the damage and in some cases, salvage what they could.
"Our house is not too bad," said Courtney Schinner. "Our roof is gone, a lot of windows are blown out, but the interior is OK.
"We got really lucky compared to a lot of people," she said as she gathered her valuables and prepared to move into a hotel while her apartment is repaired.
Officials advised residents of the dangers in the area: exposed electrical wires, severed gas lines, nails, broken boards and other debris.
Of the 596 homes officials said were damaged by the Colorado storm, 102 were deemed unsafe to occupy.
About 100 people have died in U.S. twisters so far this year, the worst toll in a decade, according to the weather service, and the danger has not passed yet. Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early summer, then again in the late fall.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
MILAN: LEONARDO, ''KAKA' STA BENE''
E' andata bene''. Il dirigente rossonero Leonardo conferma l'esito positivo dell'intervento chirurgico al quale si e' sottoposto Kaka'. ''Tutto come previsto - aggiunge Leonardo, in queste ore in Brasile con Kaka' -. Adesso occorre aspettare. I prossimi giorni saranno importanti anche per la rieducazione. Il tempo e' dalla parte di Kaka', perche' non ci sono impegni ne' con il Milan ne' con la Nazionale. Questo gioca a suo favore e a favore del suo pieno recupero''.
WEATHERMEN WARN OF WET WEEKEND
Britain can expect a wet and windy Bank Holiday weekend, weather forecasters have warned.The south of England is likely to be worst affected with heavy bursts of rain and a possibility of thunderstorms.
Weatherman Stephen Davenport said: "It isn't going to be an enjoyable weekend outdoors in the South of England. It's not going to be non-stop rain, but there will be a lot of it.
"There are some really heavy bursts. There may be thunderstorms cracking off in the South East and spreading west and northwards."
People in Northern Ireland and Scotland can look forward to a drier weekend.
South Wales and the south of England are expected to have a wet Sunday morning, with rain edging northwards. It will be a windy day across the UK.
The warmest weather on Bank Holiday Monday will be in northwest Ireland where temperatures are expected to reach 19C. People in Glasgow can look forward to a high temperature of 18C.
Motorists are also in for a frustrating time with the AA predicting that more than 18 million drivers will take to the roads this weekend.
The busiest routes include the M25 around London through Surrey and Berkshire, the M1 through the East Midlands towards South Yorkshire, and the M6 between Cheshire and the Lake District.
An increase in traffic is expected on Monday evening as people travel back home.
TWO DIVERS SURVIVE 20 HOURS DRIFTING OFF AUSTRALIA
Two scuba divers, a British man and an American woman, were rescued on Saturday after drifting for 20 hours off Australia's Great Barrier Reef after they became separated from their dive party.
A rescue helicopter spotted the divers drifting about 7.8 nautical miles north-west of Bait Reef, winched them aboard and flew them to a nearby resort island, police said.
"I'm quite surprised, they are in such great condition," a helicopter rescue official told local radio.
"It was quite amazing, with over 20 hours in the ocean to not have more exposure, but I guess the wetsuits just kept them warm enough during the night. Possibly they had some fresh water on them and they didn't get too sunburnt during the afternoon."
The two, part of a party of six divers on a charter boat, became separated on Friday afternoon and drifted some eight nautical miles during the night.
Police said the pair were diving in a small inlet called Gary's Lagoon when they failed to resurface as scheduled.
The dive boat crew started a search, alerting police when they failed to find any trace of the missing divers.
Three aircraft, including a specialized search and rescue plane with forward looking infra-red equipment, searched overnight for the pair. The search was expanded on Saturday with seven helicopters and three aircraft looking for the pair.
CINDY MCCAIN HAD $6 MILLION INCOME IN 2006
Cindy McCain, who two weeks ago said she would never make her tax returns public, revealed Friday that she had a total income of more than $6 million in 2006.
The presidential campaign of her husband, Republican John McCain, released the top two summary pages of her 2006 tax return, eager to avoid making her earlier refusal an issue in the contest.
The documents show that Mrs. McCain, who files her taxes separately from her husband, paid more than $1.7 million in federal income taxes — a tax rate of more than 28 percent. She reported nearly $570,000 in itemized deductions.
McCain's campaign said she had received an extension on her 2007 tax returns and aides said it is likely she would make those public when they are filed.
The Arizona senator released his own tax return last month, reporting a total income of $405,409 in 2007 and $84,460 in federal income taxes.
McCain's two Democratic rivals — Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton — released information about their taxes earlier. Both Obama and Clinton file their taxes jointly with their spouses, offering more detail of each family's wealth and income.
Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported making $4.2 million in 2007, while the Clintons reported $20.4 million in income.
Confined to only the summary pages, her released returns offer limited information. She listed $4.5 million in income from a broad category that includes rental real estate, royalties, partnerships and trusts. She also reported nearly $300,000 in salary income, more than $280,000 in dividends, and more than $740,000 in capital gains.
Heiress to a large Arizona beer distributorship, Cindy McCain's worth has been estimated at more than $100 million. Her assets, as listed in McCain's personal financial disclosure, are vast. But presidential and senatorial financial disclosures only require assets to be listed in broad ranges, and many of hers are valued at simply "over $1 million."
Last week, she sold off more than $2 million in mutual funds whose holdings include companies that do business in Sudan. John McCain has been a critic of the violence in that African nation.
Aides said that disclosing only the summary pages had precedent, pointing to tax information made public in 2003 by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
In an interview aired on NBC's "Today" on May 8, Cindy McCain said she had no intention of making her returns public.
"You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate," Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain, said in an interview aired on NBC's "Today" on Thursday.
Asked if she would release her tax returns if she were first lady, she said: "No."
Her response brought a prompt demand from Democrats for the McCains to be more open about their finances. Obama and Clinton have released tax information dating back to 2000. The Clintons also released their tax returns while Bill Clinton was president.
The McCain's have been much more limited in their disclosures.
"It is laughable for the campaign to release so little information and say they are being transparent," said Karen Finney, the communications director for the Democratic National Committee. "This is another indication that John McCain is not serious when he says he wants to run a transparent campaign, and a disturbing sign that a vote for John McCain is a vote for four more years of secrecy."
UNIV. OF ARIZONA TEAM TO CALL SHOTS FOR MARS ROBOT
A robotic spacecraft scheduled to land Sunday on Mars will be operated by NASA. But it's scientists at a University of Arizona lab who will be calling the shots on what the robot does.
If the Phoenix Mars Lander makes a successful touchdown in Mars' northern polar region, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California will turn over scientific control to the Tucson researchers. The Lunar and Planetary Laboratory has been dealing with missions to the red planet since 1964.
It will be the first time a public university has led a Mars mission. Principal scientist Peter H. Smith and his colleagues in Arizona will make decisions about the robot's actions, while the NASA team will send those commands to the robot.
The Phoenix lander will study whether the ice beneath the Martian surface ever melted and look for traces of organic compounds in the permafrost to determine if life could have emerged at the site.
"If we could find it, and if we can convince ourselves it's Martian and not something we carried from Earth, then we literally have the smoking gun for present or past life on Mars," said lab director Michael Drake.
The university, and Smith, are veterans of space and Mars explorations. In fact, this will be Smith's third crack at trying to successfully place a lander on Mars.
The Mars Polar Lander, carrying cameras built by Smith, crashed in December 1999 on its landing approach at the Martian south pole.
He also worked on the microscope and the robotic arm camera built for the Mars Surveyor Lander mission scheduled for 2001, but canceled a year earlier because of the 1999 mishap.
"We have to assume we could have been further ahead in our understanding of Mars if the Polar Lander had been a success," Smith said.
He compared the disappointing experiences to "falling off our horse and now we're getting back on and learning how to ride again."
Drake said the laboratory's scientists have been involved at some level with virtually every successful Mars mission.
Smith has been focusing much of his work on Mars since 1993, when he developed a camera used in NASA's Pathfinder mission. It sent back images beginning July 4, 1997, from the Sojourner Rover.
He was part of the science team for the rovers Spirit and Opportunity that have been researching on Mars since early 2004. He was also project manager for the 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's sophisticated camera that has returned more than 25,000 images and 3,500 radar observations since early 2006.
"Peter is a very positive person," said Barry Goldstein, program manager of Phoenix at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who has known Smith for a decade. "His optimism is rather contagious and his enthusiasm is contagious."
The historic operations during the Phoenix mission will be run out of a converted 50,000-square-foot warehouse near the University of Arizona campus. It also holds two full-scale models of the Phoenix Mars lander, one on a platform surrounded by a rocky landscape depicting the terrain where the real lander is expected to come to rest.
Researchers will have magnums of champagne chilled as they tensely await the landing. "I just hope we get to actually use them to celebrate, not to drown our sorrows," said Drake.
William Boynton, who's worked on three previous Mars missions, said scientists are confident.
"... The odds are certainly well in our favor that this will be a good success," he said.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
OBAMA WINS OREGON, MOVES TO BRINK OF NOMINATION
LOUISVILLE:- Barack Obama stands at the brink of victory in the Democratic presidential race. He has defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Oregon primary and is within 100 delegates of the total needed to claim the top prize at the party convention this summer.He told cheering supporters at a rally in Iowa that they had put him within reach of the nomination. Iowa is the overwhelmingly white state that launched the black, first-term senator from Illinois on his improbable path to victory last January.
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