PHILLY CLOUT: Foxwoods, a casino originally approved for the Delaware riverfront in South Philly, told the state Gaming Control Board this morning that it will seek approval to relocate to the former Strawbridge & Clothier department store at 8th and Market Street. The board, which had called a meeting to hear updates on plans for Foxwoods and SugarHouse, a casino approved for the Delaware riverfront in Fishtown, nearly lost control of the meeting as a crowd of about 50 angry protesters heckled and berated casino investors. Foxwoods officials were forced to leave through a back door…MORE
LETTER FROM ROME: Apocalypto Now
[Photo via THE BIG PICTURE] BY SIMONE SECCI FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT ROME — The noises that people used to hear in the streets of L’Aquila, one of the main cities in central Italy, were those that you can hear in every other place in the world: People talking, traffic, kids playing. Now L’Aquila is a ghost town ruled by a terrible empty silence, a silence of death. The numbers that corresponds to the terrible earthquake, that hit L’Aquila last Monday are those of a catastrophe: 228 people founded dead, hundreds injured and more than 70.000 homeless, so far. Unfortunately L’Aquila wasn’t […]
YARRRR: Somali Pirates Seize 21 American Sailors
ABC NEWS: Somali pirates on Wednesday hijacked a U.S.-flagged cargo ship with 21 crew members aboard, a diplomat and a U.S. Navy spokesman said. The Kenya-based diplomat identified the vessel as the 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama and said all the crew members are American. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The U.S. Navy confirmed that a U.S. flagged ship with 21 members of crew was hijacked early Wednesday off the eastern coast of Somalia. MORE UPDATE: American crew members aboard a U.S.-flagged ship hijacked by Somali pirates Wednesday were able […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
FRESH AIR British actor and comedian Russell Brand is known for his outspokenness, his outlandish appearance and his wit — not to mention a series of raunchy on-air prank calls that ended his tenure as host of a BBC radio show. But he’s best known in the U.S. for his role as a caddish rocker in the film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and for hosting the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. Recently, he’s put his over-the-top persona on the page with his memoir My Booky Wook: A Memoir of Sex, Drugs, and Stand-up. My Booky Wook chronicles Brand’s struggle with addictions […]
DOCTOR EVIL: Leaked International Red Cross Report Calls CIA Medical Officers Accessories To Torture
WASHINGTON POST: Medical officers who oversaw interrogations of terrorism suspects in CIA secret prisons committed gross violations of medical ethics and in some cases essentially participated in torture, the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a confidential report that labeled the CIA program “inhuman.” Health personnel offered supervision and even assistance as suspected al-Qaeda operatives were beaten, deprived of food, exposed to temperature extremes and subjected to waterboarding, the relief agency said in the 2007 report, a copy of which was posted on a magazine Web site yesterday. The report quoted one medical official as telling a detainee: […]
War Dead Photographed For 1st Time In 18 Years
NEW YORK TIMES: For the first time in 18 years, the Pentagon granted the news media access on Sunday night to cover the arrival of a coffin to Dover Air Force Base from overseas. The coffin, draped in a flag and bearing the body of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Va, was unloaded from a government aircraft by the military honor guard. Sergeant Myers, 30, was killed by an improvised explosive device near Helmand Province in Afghanistan on April 4, according to the Defense Department. A ban on news coverage of returning war dead, which had been […]
COMMON SENSE: Just Sayin’
TACOMA NEWS TRIBUNE: Five children between ages 7 and 16 were found shot dead, allegedly by their father, in their home southeast of Tacoma, Wash., authorities said Saturday night. The body of the children’s father was discovered Saturday morning in his car near a casino about 25 miles away. The man had apparently killed himself with a rifle, authorities said. The discovery prompted Pierce County sheriff’s deputies to check on the children at a mobile home park near Graham, Wash., said Ed Troyer, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department. He identified the dead children as four girls and a boy. […]
TALE OF TWO OBAMAS: Tough Talk To CEOs, Soft Pedaling On Bailout Oversight, Advisers Compromised
POLITICO: The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States. Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees — and, by extension, to themselves. “These are complicated companies,” one CEO said. Offered another: “We’re competing for talent on an international market.” But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to […]
MASSACRE: Gunman Kills 14 At Immigration Center
PRESSCONNECTS: At least twelve people are dead after a gunman went on a shooting spree inside the American Civic Center in Binghamton, [New York] according to preliminary information from state police. A federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity told the Associated Press the shooter has been found dead in the building. The law enforcement official said the gunman entered the building through the front while firing. He had already blocked the back door with his car. At one point more than 40 hostages were being held in the building at 131 Front Street — 15 in […]
WHY WE FIGHT: Videotape Surfaces Of Taliban Flogging A 17-Year-Old Girl For Adultery
TIMESONLINE: This grainy footage appears to show a 17-year-old girl being beaten by Islamic radicals in Pakistan’s northwestern region of Swat, where Sharia law was introduced after the government reached a truce with the Taleban in February. A local Taleban commander in the militant stronghold of Matta, 25 miles from the regional capital, Mingora, ordered the girl to be flogged a week ago after accusing her of adultery, according to local r More..eporters. But some residents of Matta have accused the commander of ordering the beating to get revenge after the girl refused to accept his proposal of marriage. “Please! Enough! […]
BEING THERE: The Good News Flower Hour
The week that was in just five minutes, hosted by a stoned daisy with the obligatory voice of gawd. Funny. Sad. Good for you. GNHF is on hiatus this week, look for it next Friday.
NEWS CLUES: Like A Celebrity Adoption Of The Truth
TECH CRUNCH: Twitter To Get Googled? Reports on TechCrunch claim that Google is in advanced negotiations to acquire micro-blogging site Twitter. Citing two separate sources, TechCrunch said that the asking price is more than the $250m (£170m) valuation that Twitter’s recent round of funding would suggest. A third source, however, recently added to the TechCrunch report, suggests that talks are only in the early stages. Twitter has recently reworked its search feature, prompting many to think that this makes the firm more appealing to potential suitors. Search facilities have been added to the ‘tweet’ pages, and users can search tweets […]
NEW WORLD ORDER: Revolution To Be Accessorized
FINANCIAL TIMES: Markets surged on Thursday as world leaders agreed a sweeping package of measures to fight the global recession, including a $250bn increase in the international money supply. Gordon Brown, UK prime minister and host of the G20 summit in London, claimed that the deal marked the emergence of a “new world order” as he announced a range of moves, including a pledge to give a $500bn boost to International Monetary Fund to help struggling emerging economies. In Asia, stocks surged ahead of the summit, with Hong Kong shares’ seeing their biggest daily advance in four months.The rallies continued […]