—

READ THE FULL STORY

Paris Hilton arrives at Dolce Gabbana at the opening of their flagship store in Los Angeles.

Paris Hilton’s mansion in the Sherman Oaks area of Los Angeles was broken into by a hooded jewel thief sometime before 5 a.m. on Friday. The thief is believed to have broke in through the front door which many believe to have been unlocked at the time. After entering through the front door the thief made his/her way upstairs and ransacked the bedroom. They then got away with an estimated $2 million in gems and jewels.

Luckily Paris was not at home when the robbery went down. While her people are remaining tight-lipped about the event it is believed that she was out partying when the crook broke in.

Paris Hilton’s security guards discovered the break-in at about 5 a.m. and immediately alerted police of the matter. Local officers gathered surveillance video from cameras around the Hilton estate and are currently trying to catch the criminal behind the heist. No one is sure where her security team was at the time of the robbery or how the criminal mastermind managed to slip by them and in through the front door.

Police spent most of the day Friday searching through the wreckage for any sort of evidence which could lead to an arrest. However, as of yet, there are no suspects and no arrest have been made.

Paris has been the victim of other robberies in the past, however this appears to be the most costly to the Hilton bank account.

SOURCES: Associated Press, The New York Post

Obama annouced some major players in the science department of his administration.

Barrack Obama named a physicist and a marine biologist from Harvard. This shows that he plans to take action against global warming and differ somewhat from the thinking of the Bush administration.

“It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology,” Obama said in announcing the selections in his weekly radio address.

This day marks the significant changes which are believed to be made by the Obama administration and the new life of the environmental movement. The four which were named as apart of Obama’s science team will confront numerous environmental and global warming issues that many believe the Bush administration pushed aside.

John Holdren, Obama’s science adviser and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has pushed for more action to combat global warming. Jane Lubchenco was named by Obama as head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees ocean and atmospheric studies and does much of the government’s research on global warming. She will be the first women to lead NOAA.

Obama sees the environment as an enormous issue and everyone involved in this mornings announcement seemed exited at the new direction of the incoming administration and the complete 180 from the current administrations stances on many environmental issues.

READ THE ENTIRE STORY

SOURCE: Associated Press

The ailing auto industry which has been in a free fall for some time cheered with excitement at the Presidents actions. The Bush administration believes that allowing the auto industry to fail or go bankrupt would send the country into a deeper and much tougher recession.

WASHINGTON - President Bush approves $17.4B in bailout for U.S. auto makers.

As the auto makers cheered, President-elect Obama clinched his fist,  swung his arms and warned, “The auto companies must not squander this chance to reform bad management practices and begin the long-term restructuring that is absolutely necessary to save this critical industry and the millions of American jobs that depend on it.”

After President-elect Obama takes office it will be up to him to determine whether the arrangement between the auto industry and the U.S. government is working and should remain.

The current agreement, that’s written on a bar napkin in the oval office, does comes with some strings. The auto industry must restructure and retool their companies and renegotiate with creditors, suppliers and the labor unions. President-elect Obama gave no commitment to reopen the arrangement but did say that changes needed to be made and it shouldn’t all be put on the back of the labor unions and the workers.

The Presidents announcement caused stocks to rally, however those gains were lost as the trading day progressed.

Roughly $13.4 billion of the financial rescue money will be available to the auto makers this month and next, $9.4 billion of it for General Motors and $4 billion for Chrysler. Both companies are believed to be on the fast-track to bankruptcy without government help. The final $4 billion is intended for GM at a later point when the money is released from government accounts which were initially created to serve the financial companies.

Ford Motor Company came through the traumatic event looking like a champ. They came to the conclusion that they do not need government assistance at this time but stood up for their counterparts saying that they would be hurt if any of the other auto makers went under.

President Bush put pressure on both labor unions and workers, saying that they should accept wages which keep them competitive with foreign car manufacturers. It is unknown if the “economics lesson” was heeded by the normally unaware labor unions. Bush also called for the removal of the “jobs bank” which paid workers who had been laid-off for up to one year.

The idea of a “car czar” has not been forgotten by all, and is in fact quite probably under the terms of this bailout. A car czar would be someone who would focus only on the auto industry and their use of the money provided to them by the American people. Secretary Paulson is in charge of oversight until a better alternative is put into action.

House Republicans threw a slight “hissy-fit” and did not seem at all amused at the actions of the Bush administration. The Republicans said that that was not the purpose of the $700 billion granted to the financial industry.

SOURCE: Associated Press

Tiger Woods answers questions during the Wednesday press conference at the Chevron World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California.

Tiger Wood’s caddie Steve Williams made headlines after his comments that he did not like Phil Mickelson. Later Mickelson put out a statement saying that the comments were rude and unneeded. Later Mr. Woods made a statement in which he said that he was disappointed by his caddies “inappropriate” comments.

Woods said that the whole issue was put to bed after he spoke to both Williams and Mickelson. He also stated that Steve Williams will be on his bag next year when the PGA Tour season begins.

READ THE ENTIRE STORY

SOURCE: Associated Press

AP - Zaidi throws both of his shoes at President Bush before he is wrestled to the ground by fellow reporters.

In the Islamic culture, and perhaps most other cultures in the world, being touched or shown the sole of another shoe is a sign of great disrespect showing that one is under another in terms of status and general demeanor and is usually regarded as a symbol of great contempt.
This was not the case when thousands of Iraqis gathered at Baghdad’s Sadr District demanding the release of Muntadar al-Zaidi from official custody, deeming him a “hero”.

Zaidi has been held in custody ever since the December 15th press conference between President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. The event stirred quiet the controversy where Zaidi had thrown a pair of shoes directed at Bush, calling him a “dog”.
Zaidi’s brother, Maythem al-Zaidi, contacted an Iraqi judge in order to better understand the situation regarding the legal proceeding brought forward against his brother. The judge told him that he might serve two years in prison or pay a fine for insulting a President of foreign country unless Mr. Bush withdrew the case. A distraught Maythem al-Zaidi said that “if they manage to imprison Muntandar, there are millions of him all over Iraq and the Arab world”.

Zaidi has been held in Iraqi custody and interrogated on the issue of whether or not he was paid to commit such an action and although many believe his actions were right, the Iraqi government, along with some of its citizens, disagree.

“I think this incident is unnecessary, to be honest. That was a press conference, not a war. If someone wants to express his opinion he should do so in the proper manner, not this way,” said a local Baghdadi resident.

Elsewhere in the world, shock jocks such as Jay Leno and Conan O’brien have used the incident as materials for punch lines. “Well at least we’ve found something Bush was good at…dodgeball”, exclaimed Leno, continuing to say that the incident ensued something George W. never did, “lean to the left”.

SOURCES: BBC, The New York Times

—

WATCH: LATE NIGHT COMEDIANS COVER SHOE THROWING INCIDENT

NEWSDAY IMAGE - President Bush dodging the shoe that was hurled at him by an irate Iraqi reporter.

A size ten shoe was far more than George W. Bush had expected at a surprise visit to Baghdad on December 15th, 2008 where he was expected to hold talks regarding security agreements with Prime Minister Nouri Maliki. The visit had been kept on a low profile and is speculated to be Bush’s last visit to Iraq as President. Along came Muntadar al-Zaidi, a correspondent for Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV, who, much like many of the authorized journalists present at the press conference was wearing some form of footwear and although Zaidi’s boots were fairly common, his proposed usage of them was not.

Seconds after Bush and Maliki finished their conference and respectfully attempted to speak the other’s language to the media in thanks, Zaidi’s role had taken center stage. As a well-projected boot left Zaidi’s hand, aimed at Bush’s head, Zaidi screamed in protest.

“This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog”. The first boot had zoomed past Bush’s head as a swift, nearly acrobatic move, had been made to avoid it-and just as fast as the first had arrived, a second boot had come flying his way. The initial throw had left the audience dumbstruck, until Zaidi was finally wrestled down by the other reporters at the conference yelling, “this is for all the widows and orphans and all those you’ve killed in Iraq”. The incident had been quelled faster than it had been initiated.

“So what if the guy threw a shoe at me?”, replied Bush at reporter inquiries, shrugging questionably at the questions. “It’s like driving down the street and have people gesturing without all five fingers”, continued Bush as the incident had began making quite a stir. “To be honest with you, I don’t know what his beef is?”.

But the truth behind the Iraqi conflict had obviously been more evident to Zaidi than to Bush. In its full length, the Iraqi conflict has cost nearly 4000 American lives, and nearly $600 billion along with 90,000 civilian lives and nearly 4 million refugees.
“It’s true that the American invasion saved us from Saddam Hussein, but now we are living in a tragedy, we have seen nothing good, we have only seen suffering”, said a local Baghdadi citizen.

Apparently Zaidi’s view was similar to those of many Iraqi’s. He had been kidnapped and beaten before by local militant groups who sprang up after the United States led invasion had come about in March, 2003 and it had been apparent that his view was that America’s presence in Iraq had done more foul than good.

Interviews conducted with Zaidi’s brother, Maythem al-Zaidi revealed Muntadar’s ties with Saddam Hussein’s Baath party according to Riyadh Muhammad of the New York Times. Maythem believed that his brother had no prior plans of such actions until “he was provoked when Mr. Bush said [during the news conference] this is his farewell gift to the Iraqi people”.

In an interview after the incident by ABC, Bush had mentioned that “things like this happen…it is a sign of a free society”, hinting at the ability of Zaidi to use his freedom of expression. Bush had also had brought notion to the fact at how humiliated the Iraqi press corps was towards Zaidi’s actions.

The programming director for al-Baghdadiya, Muzhir al-Khafaji stated that Zaidi had been arrested by US officials twice before and had later released a statement that “any measures against Muntadar will be considered the acts of a dictatorial regime” due to the US promise of freedom of expression.

SOURCES: BBC, The New York Times

—

WATCH: ABC NEWS INTERVIEWS PRESIDENT BUSH AFTER SHOE THROWING INCIDENT

ShareThis is an application that you can find on numerous blogs and websites throughout the vast space that is the internet. With news spreading so fast throughout the internet, a small company called ShareThis is lending a helping hand. The service is used by tons of websites around the world, and we are one of them. The share this icon, similar to the one pictured above is something like what you would see at the bottom of each of our post. ShareThis lets you email your favorite articles to your friends, or share them on your favorite social network like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Digg.

It is because of amazing services like this that you get all of that amazing junk mail that you never read. It is also because of ShareThis and other similar services that juicy rumors are able to spread so quickly. They take no responsibility though if those juicy stories are slightly inaccurate. But all is well that ends well and ShareThis is a story that seems to be going good.

SOURCE: ShareThis

Today was no day to be afraid of heights as two men free-climbed the New York Times building. The first climber was known as the French Spider Man (a.k.a. Alain Roberts) climbed up the building as apart of a stunt to raise awareness for global warming. He climbed the building without any authorization. Which ironically caused a ton of cars, civilian and police alike, to sit there watching him, while released tons of gases into the ozone… Smart move “Spidy”.

NY TIMES - Alain Roberts reaches an extreme height on the New York Times building only to find himself being arrested by police offers who were waiting for him at the top.

Onlookers were amazed and stunned as Mr. Roberts (you can see his website here) climbed the 52 story building without taking any safety precautions. This isn’t the first time he has done this, “in 1997, he climbed (without authorization) the world’s tallest skyscraper in Kuala Lumpur.” Alain Roberts has climbed over 70 different buildings around the world. His greatest success thus far has been his ascent of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi with over 100,000 spectators. Most of whom gathered to watch what seemed at the time to be his inevitable demise.

It is unknown whether Roberts was climbing the New York Times building as a way of protesting the buildings use of energy or to show that the New York Times building as an excellent example of energy conservation. Science Beat calls the New York Times building “energy-efficient”.

Only hours after Alain Roberts scaled the building today another man began the tremendous climb. This other man was a local New Yorker, who said he was climbing to raise awareness for malaria. Everyone seemed to be extremely surprised at the fact that there were not one, but two people stupid enough to make the treacherous climb up the Everest-like building. I mean really, have you ever been to the top of the New York Times building? It is cold up there… no one has ever accused a New York Times reporter of being “warm and fuzzy” inside. More like, “cold hearted and blood thirsty”.

As a successful ending to their story, they were both arrested and taken straight to jail. However, they did pass “go” and they did collect their “two hundred dollars”. The climbers are getting an extreme amoutn of plublicity form their stunt, which begs the question, does crime pay?

SOURCE: The New York Times