Chinese Pigs - Under Viral Attack

As a mysterious epidemic kill pigs in south-eastern China, Chinese officials are only providing little information about the disease or a contaminated wheat gluten that has been known to cause death and illness in the animals. Thus reviving longstanding questions about whether China is willing to share information about health and food safety issues with potentially global implications.

The virus was probably linked to a reproductive and respiratory condition known as blue-eared pig disease, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

"This disease spreads especially fast during the summer," the ministry said, citing the hot and humid weather of the season.

The agriculture ministry requires veterinary departments to stay on high alert for the disease and immediately report suspect cases.

"Once the virus mutates, it will become more pathogenic and more difficult to cure," the ministry warned.

A major problem are the poor breeding conditions as most farmers tend to raise their pigs in open places, and pens are poorly equipped with anti-epidemic measures, the ministry said.

The frequent transportation of live pigs might also facilitate the spread of the disease, it said.

More than 300 pigs in Guangdong province died late April as a result of a secondary bacterial infection by the virus, the China Daily reported earlier.

The virus entered China from overseas in the mid-1990s and had recently showed signs of mutation, the report said.

Experts say it cannot spread from animals to people.

Tests for the disease are available and a vaccine has received government approval and is to be distributed soon, the statement said.

The agriculture ministry has already urged increased vaccinations for swine fever, pig rash and swine pneumonia and called on animal medical factories to step up production of medicines.

Dead pigs have been buried deep underground and far from sources of water.

The China Daily said the provincial agriculture authority has called for strict measures to ensure sterilisation, vaccination and supervision to avert further outbreaks.

The disease caused a panic in local areas as residents stopped buying pork for fear of eating tainted meat.

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Spider-Man Thomas Haden, Engage To A Porn Actress

Spider-Man 3 star Thomas Haden Church has revealed he is engaged to a former porn actress.

The actor, who appears as The Sandman in the movie, has been with Mia Zottoli for five years, he told the News of the World.

She has 32F-sized breasts and has appeared in films including Carnal Desires, Dungeon Of Desire, Madame Hollywood and Forbidden Highway.

Haden Church, who was also in Sideways, has one child by Zottoli and said he is delighted with the relationship.

"Good life partners are well balanced, dynamic intellectually and romantically," he commented. He said of her porn roles: "That's all in the past."

They met in 2002 on the set of a film he was directing, and she was acting in, called Rolling Kansas. Haden Church recalled: "A month later she phoned me and asked me out. It was a very pleasant surprise. I hope the wedding will be sooner rather than later."

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What If Your Date Is A Porn Celeb

It is difficult not to think how great it might be to date someone like Tera Patrick, Jenna Jameson or Kaylani Lei. They are absolutely gorgeous women. Even your mom would have to be proud of you for landing such a babe. However, besides boasting to all your buddies about having laid one of the hottest ladies, what would going out with and dating a pornstar really be like? For some men they'd probably not find that kind of heat quite so neat after a while.

Fred Gonzalez of McClatchy Newspapers decided to ask some adult performers at the recent Exxxotica convention in Miami Beach, Florida, whether they would ever date an average guy. He spoke to Jennifer Drake a performer from Wicked Pictures who said, "Absolutely. It's probably a lot easier than guys would think because aside from the fact that we have sex on camera, we're pretty normal. We have our hobbies, like yoga, swimming and reading."

However, as more than one adult performer suggested, it can be difficult for a dude to accept what is girlfriend has to do everyday in the biz. You'd have to be rather secure in yourself not to feel threatened by the fact that some muscle stud with a huge dick was doing your girlfriend at work. He also talked with Tera Patrick who explained, "A lot of us girls date regular guys but it's hard because you want to meet someone who understands your business and isn't jealous."

Okay, so for the sake of argument, let's say we aren't the jealous types how should we woo a porn starlet? Carmen Luvana added, "The big misconception by guys is they think because we have sex for a living they think that will happen all the time. Just be yourself and don't talk about how many movies you have watched. Be normal and treat her like a normal person ... We want a guy that wants you for you and not because you are an adult star and he wants to let everyone know."

That seems straightforward enough I guess. However, I've been in relationships in the past for the right reasons, but have had my motives questioned. I know that in the end, if someone you're dating doubts you enough then in the long run you begin to doubt yourself unless you're stronger-willed than most folks. I think any relationship regardless of whether it's with a pornstar, or a normal person can be tricky. However, personally I think I'll stick to scoring within my league of non-porno celebs.

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Kansas' Tornadoes, Numerous Injuries And More Death

At least seven people were killed, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Adjutant General's Department. The tornado that struck Friday night damaged about 90 percent of the Kiowa County town about 110 miles west of Wichita, City Administrator Steve Hewitt said Saturday.

Dazed residents walked the streets, looking for loved ones and taking in the sight of crumbled buildings and smashed cars.

Much of downtown was destroyed, along with City Hall, the high school and the junior high school, Hewitt said.

"I don't think we have a business left downtown," he said. A mandatory evacuation was ordered, he said.

Emergency personnel and search and rescue teams raced to Greensburg from throughout southwest Kansas. Trained dogs accompanied law enforcement officers who searched house to house for anyone trapped or injured.

"There is still a possibility we do not have all of the people accounted for in that town," Watson said. "That is something we will be working feverishly to do over the next several hours."

A storm front spawned tornadoes along a line stretching northeast from Greensburg through central Kansas. Three small tornadoes also touched down Friday in rural southwestern Illinois, but officials said there were no reports of injury or damage. Two tornadoes struck in Oklahoma, damaging some structures but injuring no one, officials said.

Greensburg's injured were taken to hospitals as far away as Dodge City. Hewitt said at least 50 people had been taken to hospitals, 16 in critical condition, but said exact numbers were impossible to come by.

Rescuers pulled about 30 people from a partially collapsed hospital early Saturday. Watson said those rescued from the hospital basement had mostly minor injuries.

Phone service to the town of about 1,600 residents was knocked out, and the state's department of transportation was trying to restore emergency service.

The National Weather Service described the tornado as a "wedge," an especially broad and tall formation. Frederick Kruse of the weather service's Dodge City office said there were initial reports that the tornado was at least three-quarters of a mile wide on the ground.

Watson said the state fire marshal's office dispatched hazardous materials teams because railroad cars in Kiowa County had overturned. She said the National Guard was sending 40 troops to provide security around Greensburg.

Shelters were opened for Greensburg residents at Barclay College and a high school in nearby Haviland.

"We have more than 300 people in shelters in Haviland," Watson said. "We have another 300 en route to take advantage of those shelters, and we anticipate that number to grow."

At the high school, the Rev. Gene McIntosh described how he huddled with his family in the parsonage of Greensburg's United Methodist Church as the tornado roared overhead. McIntosh said sofa cushions protected his 11-year-old son and the boy's friend from falling debris.

"There was a lot of praying down there," McIntosh said.

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Even A DUI Lawyer cant Stop Paris Hilton From Going To Jail

Paris Hilton appears in court tomorrow for probation violation following the suspension of her license due to alcohol-related reckless driving. Paris must appear tomorrow on a probation violation, for allegedly driving on a suspended license. Hilton was already on probation after pleading no contest last January to alcohol-related reckless driving. The DMV had suspended Hilton’s license as a result of her DUI bust.

While her license was suspended, Hilton was stopped by the CHP last January 15, and again by the L.A. County Sheriffs on February 27.

The City Attorney will argue that Hilton certainly knew after she was stopped in January that she wasn’t allowed to drive, so the second stop was a flagrant violation of law.

The documents suggest Hilton mistakenly relied on her lawyer’s assumption that Hilton had a right to drive, but the City Attorney claims in the legal papers that it’s a bogus argument.

According to the papers, Hilton also failed to enroll in an alcohol education program within 21 days of the order directing her to do so.

The legal papers ask that “Hilton be ordered to serve 45 days in County Jail.” Prosecutors also want her to be ordered “not to consume any alcohol for a continuous period of 90 days.” During that 90-day period, prosecutors want her “to be monitored for alcohol consumption … by use of a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring (SCRAM) device at her expense.”

If the City Attorney gets their way, in addition to the 45 days, Hilton will also have her license suspended for four more months, and her car will be impounded for 30 days. Sucks to be Paris Hilton.

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Anna Nicole Smith's Baby Arrives Kentucky From Bahamas

BRETT BARROUQUERE,
Associated Press

Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend arrived in Kentucky from the Bahamas on Tuesday with their infant daughter and said he is looking forward to introducing the baby to his family.

"It just feels good to be home," Larry Birkhead said after stepping off a private jet and walking up to a fence where more than a dozen photographers and reporters were gathered.

Birkhead said he plans to show off 7-month-old Dannielynn to his family in Louisville and "relax and horse around."

He said his plans include attending the Barnstable Brown party on Friday, a celebrity-packed gala on the eve of the Kentucky Derby. The event is where he and Smith first met when he was working as a freelance photographer.

He said Tuesday the baby had an easy flight.

"She did great," he said.

At a private terminal at the Louisville airport, people could be seen moving a variety of baby gear off the plane and into the back of an SUV. An infant car seat, facing away from reporters, was taken off the plane and put in the back seat of the SUV. A few minutes later Birkhead got into the vehicle and it drove off.

Birkhead, a 34-year-old photographer based in Los Angeles, was authorized by a judge last week to take the girl out of the Bahamas. The ruling followed legal battles by Birkhead to prove his paternity claim and gain custody following the former Playboy playmate's death in February from an accidental drug overdose.

A new Bahamian birth certificate listing Birkhead as the father was issued in line with a court order last week, removing the name of Smith's last companion, Howard K. Stern. Stern had been caring for the girl in the oceanfront home in the Bahamas he shared with Smith.

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US Homeland Security Officer Arrested For Running A Prostitution Parlor

When federal agents raided local massage parlors last month, they were shocked to find a Department of Homeland Security law enforcement officer's gun and uniform in an apartment linked to one of the parlors.

That officer - David J. Wolkiewicz, 51 - appeared before a federal magistrate judge Tuesday, and court papers indicated that he has admitted that he helped run a parlor where prostitution allegedly took place.

Prosecutors said Wolkiewicz, an officer with U.S. Customs & Border Protection, has admitted assisting the operator of the Asian Acupressure Therapy parlor at 7500 Porter Road, Town of Niagara.

Wolkiewicz, who has been suspended from duty, was charged last week with lying to government agents.

According to court papers, the federal officer's uniform, name plate and gun were found on March 26, when federal agents raided a Porter Road apartment of a massage parlor employee.

When agents confronted him that day at a nearby location, he admitted that he was involved in a romantic relationship with a woman who ran the parlor but initially stated that he provided "no financial support or other assistance" to the business.

But later, authorities said, Wolkiewicz admitted that he:

. Sometimes drove women who he believed were prostitutes between the parlor and Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

. Once delivered a gym bag from the woman who ran the parlor to another woman at a casino in Niagara Falls, Ont. Wolkiewicz said he believed the gym bag contained sneakers and clothing.

. Once delivered a package from the same Ontario casino to the woman who ran the parlor. That package included about 10 smaller foil packages. Wolkiewicz said he believed the foil packages contained cosmetics, and he did not declare them when he transported them over the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge into the United States.

. Did maintenance and repair work at the massage parlor, including changing a shower head, fixing a whirlpool and repairing light fixtures.

. Placed advertisements for the massage parlor in local newspapers.

. Got a Sam's Club card for the massage parlor, and the card had his photograph on it.

"Wolkiewicz also stated that he tried to distance himself from the prostitution establishment, that he attempted to encourage [the operator] to run a legitimate business," Robert M. Vanderbles, an agent with the homeland security inspector general's office, said in court papers.

The papers were filed by William J. Hochul Jr., chief of the national security division at the U.S. attorney's office in Buffalo. Hochul declined to comment, except to confirm what was stated in the documents.

U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents raided eight massage parlors in Erie and Niagara counties on March 26, following a lengthy investigation into claims that illegal aliens were being recruited to work as prostitutes at the parlors.

Fourteen people have been charged so far in what authorities call a major human trafficking investigation. Yong Mei Shi, the woman identified in court papers as having a relationship with Wolkiewicz, was arrested during the raids on charges of harboring illegal aliens.

Wolkiewicz and one of his attorneys, Ellen Poch, appeared briefly Tuesday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah J. McCarthy, who allowed the federal officer to remain free without bail.

A plea of not guilty has been entered by Wolkiewicz. Poch said she had no comment on the allegations.

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What Will China Do To Its Aging Society?

Judged from the data from the National Population and Family Planning Commission of China and the UN, and the retirement age of 60 in China, the GDP spent on supporting China's elders will be 280% of the current level in 2050, according to Gao Xiqing, deputy director of National Council for Social Security Fund. Gao believes that China will face a faster and more penetrating aging process in the near future. In 2000, the percentage of population above 65 years old was of the same level in the world, and about 50% of the figure in developed countries. However, by 2050, China will approach the developed countries in this aspect. "Nowadays, we are building a nationwide partly accumulated social insurance system based on the monthly fees paid by urban employees, and China has set up a national social security fund already, its market value being 320 billion yuan, but still far from enough," said Gao.

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South China Judge In Detention Died NOT Murdered

An official investigation into the death of a 38-year-old former judge who was being held in detention shows he died from "adult sudden death syndrome."

Investigators say Li Chaoyang was an uncooperative prisoner while being held in detention in Xing'an county in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and cuts on his face and other injuries were caused by a fall during an escape attempt.

Li Chaoyang, a judge with the local Pingle County Court, had been accused of taking bribes and was detained by local prosecutors on March 23.

Shi Shaosen, head of the Guilin municipal law enforcement supervisory section and the chief investigator of the case, said the prisoner was not maltreated.

"Li Chaoyang's sudden death conforms with adult sudden death syndrome," said Shi citing a forensic report at a news briefing held here on Sunday.

Shi would not take questions from reporters but said the investigation was conducted by law-enforcement agencies from the Guilin city and the Guangxi regional government.

The forensic report did not provide a pathological cause of Li's sudden death such as a heart attack or brain aneurysm.

Detention center officials say they found Li unconscious in his cell on the morning of April 2. He died later in hospital.

Li's relatives claimed there were wounds on his body, a gash across his lip and he was missing one of his front teeth. They questioned the cause of his death and wrote about it on a blog that was later picked by China Courts Online.

Pictures on the internet that purport to be Li, but don't show his face, reveal a body of a man that is battered and bruised with a gash across the upper lip.

"The investigation proves Li Chaoyang's case was handled according to legal procedures and strictly according to the law," said Shi, "there were no reports that torture was used to extract a confession, or bodily harm caused by guards, or an assault by cell mates."

Li was charged with taking bribes on March 23 and was first held at the No.1 Detention House of Guilin. He was transferred to the detention center of Xing'an, a suburban county of Guilin City, three days later.

The joint investigation into Li's death found that Li was mentally unstable and would not stop shouting and refused to return his cell after an exercise period.

Investigators say Li attempted to escape many times and detention center officials say were forced to shackle him.

The investigative group was told that on March 28, Li again attempted to escape but tripped and fell, hitting his face on a piece of angle iron, severely cutting his upper lip cut and knocking out one of his front teeth. He was taken to hospital for treatment and had a six-cm-long cut on his lip sutured, say investigators.

Investigators they were told that Li refused further medical treatment in the days that followed.

The forensic report compiled by a the Guilin Medical Sciences College Hospital on Saturday ruled out violent beatings, suffocation, or poisoning as the cause of Li's death and concluded that Li died of adult sudden death syndrome that might have been sparked by an unstable state of mind, and abnormal sleeping and eating habits.

Li's relatives have not yet made a public statement regarding the report's findings.

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: Australian actor Eric Bana, Survived Car Crash Uninjured

AP

Eric Bana crashed his painstakingly restored 1974 Ford XB Coupe into some trees during an around-the-state rally this weekend but emerged uninjured along with his co-driver.

The 38-year-old actor and co-driver Tony Ramunno walked away from the crash during the Targa Tasmania rally Saturday, where they had been in 53rd place in field of 115 cars in the Outright Classic competition.

Initially, Bana hoped that the car, which he has owned since he was 15, could be repaired to continue the final day of racing Sunday. But a closer inspection by his support crew showed that the front right-hand steering and suspension were too badly damaged.

"We had been having a great day until then," Bana said. "But I misjudged a tight left-hander and we went in a little too fast — the car understeered off the road and got onto the gravel and we went into a couple of trees at a fairly low speed."

"The car is a little battered on the driver's side which is a real shame, as many hours had been spent reshaping its original panels to get it just right," he said. "It's a real shame, but that's motor racing."

Bana has starred in movies such as "Hulk" and "Munich." His most recent film is "Lucky You," with Drew Barrymore and Robert Duvall.

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Lindsay Hawker Met Her Death In Japan

Anna Seaman

Chilling notes delivered late at night, sexual taunts and, finally, a brutal encounter with her vicious tormentor. Another British teacher describes how she nearly suffered the same fate as Lindsay Hawker at the hands of a Japanese man obsessed with Western women.

As the plane began its descent after a 13-hour flight, Sharon Flaherty peered out at the hundreds of green paddy fields stretching to the horizon of the Tottori Prefecture of south-west Japan.

Though the 26-year-old British woman had travelled extensively, she knew this trip was going to be special.

After graduating with a business studies degree from Heriot-Watt university, she had enrolled upon a Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme and would be spending the next three years living and working in the country she'd dreamed of visiting since she was a child.

Her visit did indeed prove to be unforgettable - but for all the wrong reasons.

In a chilling echo of the circumstances preceding the murder last month of Lindsay Hawker - found buried in a bath full of sand - Sharon was singled out and subjected to a terrifying stalking campaign by a Japanese man.

For five months, he bombarded her with anonymous letters, sat outside her house for hours watching her every movement and finally confronted her in a terrifying encounter from which she only narrowly escaped having fled for her life.

Now, back home after her ordeal, she describes the harrowing sequence of events which followed her arrival as a gaijin - a foreign woman - in a rural community far from home.

"It was the most frightening experience of my life," she says. "I left the UK with such high hopes of an enormous adventure and returned a shadow of my former self.

"I had never been one to shy away from new challenges and I'd done a lot of travelling on my own before. But being stalked in Japan has left me twitchy, nervous and scared to spend even a night alone.

"Reading about what happened to Lindsay Hawker has brought it all back to me and now I suppose I should be thankful I escaped with my life."

The naked body of English teacher Lindsay, 22, was found in an apartment in Ichikawa, in the east of Tokyo. She had been tortured, beaten and strangled. Her suspected killer, Tatsuya Ichihashi, 28, is still free.

Sharon shudders now when she realises just how close she, too, may have come to being attacked - or worse. While she speaks highly of the Japanese as a nation, she is also angry that she wasn't warned by the teaching organisation about the strange fascination some Japanese men have for Western women.

"Because we're so much taller and more curvaceous than Japanese women, the local men can be a little bit leery and pay you far more attention than would be acceptable or polite in Britain," she says.

"I thought I had no reason to worry," Sharon says. "During my travels I'd always tried to live like a local not a tourist, wanting to see the world and to learn about other cultures. My trip to Japan was not going to be any different."

Having been given an apartment in the small village of Aoya, with only 8,000 residents, she realised she was the only white person in the entire village - the only other foreigners were two Chinese.

"At first I didn't feel alien or in danger. The Japanese are very polite so they welcomed me with open arms," she says.

Sharon regularly emailed her family at home. Her boyfriend of eight months, Rob, then 24, was concerned about her safety - he asked about Japanese men and if she ever felt threatened. "I was surprised, because I never took a second glance at the local men. They were all very short and skinny and not very threatening. I also didn't think they would ever be interested in me," says Sharon.

"All Japanese women are absolutely tiny. Even though I was only a size eight to ten, I was a 'large' or 'extra large' in Japanese clothes and my shoe size five meant I couldn't find one pair of shoes to fit me.

"I emailed him back, telling him that they wouldn't even notice me. But after a few weeks, I began to be aware that the men did watch me a lot and that whenever I went into the city of Tottori, the local men would ogle all the Western women and wouldn't look away even when we were obviously not enjoying the attention.

"This shocked me because generally the culture seemed very restrained and disciplined.

"I knew from talking to Japanese people that even by talking to a Japanese man I could give him the wrong impression - that I was interested in him - so I couldn't understand why they felt that they could unashamedly leer at us. However, I never felt threatened because I was always in a large group."

Back in the village, Sharon spent her evenings keeping fit at the local gym and planning her English classes.

A year into her stay she signed up to karate classes. But it was after one of these lessons in November 2004, that her idyllic view of Japan was shattered.

"I had only just come in from karate and shut the door behind me when a hand jutted through my letterbox and dropped a plain white envelope on to my mat.

"A chill ran up my spine, I'd been in the village long enough to know that nobody delivers letters that late at night and I'd only just walked in so whoever delivered the letter must have been watching me.

"I couldn't read the script, it was in Japanese, but my instincts told me to get out of there as quickly as possible. I called a taxi, got him to escort me to my car and drove to another village where another British teacher, named Helen, lived."

The next day, Sharon had the letter translated at her school. It read: "Hello Sharon, how are you? I'm a 37-year-old man living in Aoya. I'm not married but don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of commitment. I think you are very smart, interesting and sexy.

"I know Japanese is hard for you to understand but please meet me for a date. Please post your reply in the mail box outside your house. PS I will check the mailbox every day for your response."

Sharon says: "The letter itself was harmless enough but the implications scared me. This man knew my name, what I looked like and where I lived.

"Worse, he was going to come to my house every day from then on to check the mailbox, which was outside my front door. I couldn't bear to be alone in the house after I knew I was being watched," says Sharon. "I stayed at Helen's for a few nights before daring to return. To my dismay when I did, there was another letter."

The second letter read: "Hello Sharon, how are you? I want to meet you for a date. Do not refuse me. Please post your reply in your mail box. PS I will check your mailbox every day for your reply."

"I felt utterly sick because I was all alone," recalls Sharon. "Out of my window I could see nothing but rice paddies, and the house next to me was vacant. Suddenly, home felt a very long way away."

Sharon's school contacted the police who put two officers on the case. "They came and questioned me and promised they would make full inquiries but it did little to calm my nerves.

"Every night I came home with a sense of dread and I was only ever slightly relieved when I saw my doormat empty. It was like a ticking bomb, I knew there was another letter on its way, I just didn't know when."

After another week of anxiously looking out the window, letter number three arrived - again by hand. This time the translation was more sinister.

It read: "Do you like tea or coffee? If I am ten minutes late for our date will that be acceptable? Are you lonely? Do you cry when you are in your house alone? Do you prefer sex with English men or Japanese men? Do you like your boyfriends to be like your background music?"

Sharon says: "What got me about this was that he knew I lived alone and, of course, I was disgusted that he had written about me in a sexual context. There was this horrible sense, that other British girls have talked about in reference to Japanese men, that he somehow felt it was his right to proposition me in this way. In floods of tears I called the police," explains Sharon.

At her apartment the police fitted a security camera in the front window. But until the culprit was caught Sharon decided to live at a fellow JET scheme employee's home in Iwami, a town 20 miles away.

"Every morning I woke up feeling sick. I put on a brave face at school so that people didn't think it was getting to me, but at the place I was staying, I often cried. In my diary I wrote that I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown." At Christmas 2004, Sharon flew home to Inverness where her mother runs a guest house and spent two weeks with her family. On hearing about her ordeal, Sharon's mother begged her to stay behind.

"I heard what she was saying but I couldn't afford to. I had a graduate loan which I was paying off at £700 a month and my job in Japan was my only income.

"Besides, if I stayed home then the stalker would have won, I still had some of my fighting spirit left and I hoped that when I returned the police would have good news."

Unfortunately they didn't. Since her departure from the house, there had been no more letters meaning that the stalker must have been watching the flat and been aware she was not there.

Sharon decided that since it had been eight weeks since the last letter, things might be different if she returned to her old routines.

"I took the plunge and after my first night back at school instead of driving to Helen's, I went to the gym and then drove home. But as I approached I saw a figure hiding between parked cars watching my house. My heart leapt into my mouth and the sick feeling in my stomach returned. Was it him?"

Trying to stay calm, Sharon carried on past her house and drove round the block.

"When I came back round, he had gone again and I breathed a sigh of relief as I stopped the car. Then - out of nowhere - he appeared beside me at the driver's side and tried to open the car door. I banged my hand down on the lock and caught his eye.

"He was short, aged about 40 and slender. But more than anything about his appearance I was struck by his eyes. His stare was cold and his black eyes bored into me. I didn't recognise him at all.

"He seemed eerily calm, he was smoking a cigarette and he was only half dressed because his shirt hung open to the waist. For a second I froze but then he brought his fist down on the car and I snapped into action.

"I put my foot down and sped off, but I was blinded with fear and the car went into a skid 100 yards up the road. I lost control and it crashed into a ditch.

"Somehow, I think it was because of the adrenaline coursing through my veins, I managed to scramble out of the car and ran to the nearest house and began hammering on the door. I was uninjured but I could see this man walking quickly towards me. At that moment I genuinely thought he might try to kill me. I cried out in absolute terror."

Suddenly, a shaft of light opened from the next door. The house she'd been knocking on was empty but thankfully the neighbours had heard the commotion.

"When I saw the light I just ran to it and away from the man. I tried to explain what was happening to the bemused couple but I was in such a state I had to call a friend at the school to translate."

"They looked outside, but by then the man was gone."

The couple drove Sharon to the headmaster's house, where she gave a detailed description of the stalker to the police and hoped her nightmare would be over soon.

But it was not so simple. Terrified by her confrontation, Sharon was offered a room in the headmaster's house, and hardly dared to leave the house except to go to work in the months that followed.

"I never went anywhere alone and completely stopped socialising," she explains. "I wanted to fly home but I couldn't as I was tied into a contract with the school until July. If I broke it they wouldn't uphold their side of the agreement - to pay my £800 flight back to the UK.

"The next six months were a living hell. I stayed with the headmaster until March and then the school found me another house. I had double locks fitted on all the doors and windows, it was the only way I felt safe.

"I had to keep going to work but I was quite thankful of the distraction. At least when I was giving lessons I knew I was safe.

"At night was the worst. Every time I shut my eyes I pictured that man's cold, hard eyes. In my new bedroom I planned how I could escape if anything happened and when I did sleep I would jolt myself awake at the slightest noise. I was taking sleeping tablets, too, but they didn't really help.

"Every weekend I would make sure I had a friend staying or I would go to them. I stopped going out in cities. If I went anywhere I always made sure I went with people and stayed in large groups.

"I phoned the police almost daily but they never found my stalker. So the nightmare was never over."

Returning home last year, Sharon is now living in London and working as a writer for a business magazine. The news of Lindsay Hawker's death has inevitably brought her chilling memories flooding back.

"I was shocked, scared and angry. It could so easily have been me. What if those neighbours hadn't opened their door that night, what if I hadn't spotted him when I did? It doesn't bear thinking about.

"I have spoken to many people since my ordeal and since Lindsay's death who agree that some Japanese men are obsessed with the way Western women look.

"Even slim girls are voluptuous in their eyes, and as we are so much taller than Japanese men and also seem more unavailable, the differences are fascinating to them.

"I can't tar all Japanese men with the same brush, but I do believe women should be wary before embarking on trips to the country, I also think that the authorities should take it more seriously.

"British girls like myself and Lindsay are in real danger over there. The man who stalked me has never been caught. Could he do the same to another British girl? If he does, she might not be as lucky as I was to escape."

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I Wasnt NUDE Says Pascal Mashaalani

Pascal Mashaalani, the Lebanese singer has denied allegations that she appeared practically nude in her most recent music video "Itghairt Alai" (You have changed), even if the dress was a see-through. Pascal stated that she considered the clip as a shift in her career in the right direction, adding that the dress she wore was daring but not inappropriate.

Pascal added that the dress in the clip was in fact see-through, which is why many thought that she was semi-nude. She said that she insisted on wearing the dress to break the old image people have of her of being a traditional girl and showing her daring side.

Mashalaani was recently in Tunisia at the grand opening of Citroen, an event which she was specially invited to be the guest star at. Before the opening ceremony, Pascal held a press conference, organized by Citroen, and she expressed her joy at being in Tunisia and thanked the company for inviting her.

Pascal talked about her new look in her the clip admitting that she knows she shocked her fans. She added that it is essential for every artists to always appear in a new look to attract the largest number of audience, and the criticism she received, whether it was positive or negative, only signifies that she is on the right track of success.

Pascal added that despite the fact that she is very satisfied with the new look that director Mirna Al Khayat has presented her in, she does not know whether or not she will keep it in future clips.

The story of the new video is a romantic one that revolves around a young lady who is madly in love and flirts with her man to show him the affections she has for him.

Mirna had chosen a number of filming locations around Lebanon carefully selecting ones that match the story of the clip.

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Nigeria Escapes Another Air Disaster

Following the poor condition of its aviation industry, Nigeria barely escaped another air disaster yesterday.
Two passengers were seriously injured when Virgin Nigeria aircraft made a flight return at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos after the pilot of the airplane, with registration number 5N-VND, which was on its way to Kano enroute Abuja noticed that the aircraft developed hydraulic problem. The incident happened at about 5.00 pm yesterday.
As the pilot taxied back through the runway 18 Right of the international wing of the airport, the passengers saw an on-coming aircraft and panicked and stampede ensued which led to the sustaining of injuries by many of the passengers.
A source who spoke to journalists said that the injuries sustained by some of the passemgers were purely out of fear and stampede and in the process of escaping from what they feared was impending mishap.
The injured passengers were rushed to the hospital within the airport by ambulance owned by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria[FAAN].
Among those seriously injured was one Chief Ahmed Onibudo and another man from nothern Nigeria whose name could not be ascertained. All efforts made to get the relevant authorities to speak on the matter failed as no one was willing to talk.
In another development, Aviation experts from aircraft manufacturing firm, Boeing, has urged Nigerian airline operators to ensure that their pilots avoid the wind shear phenomenon wherever possible, because it is a major source of air crashes in the industry.
Speaking during a two-day workshop on flight operations organised by Boeing, in conjunction with the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the experts said if the rules were adhered to, occurrences of wind shear cases would significantly be reduced.
Wind shear is a sudden change in wind speed and direction, which has resulted in many accidents world wide.
Accident investigators into the Sosoliso plane crash of December 10, 2005, which occurred in Port-Harcourt, killing many school children among over 100 victims, attributed the accident to wind shear among other reasons.
Captain Mike Taylor, one of the Boeing experts, said the only sure way of surviving wind shear was to avoid it. Taylor said pilots should endeavor to avoid the phenomenon once it was potential in some areas as indicated by pre-flight weather reports, adding that delays of such flights were preferable.
He said where pilots ran into winds shear, they needed to take quick decisions within a matter of seconds, which would determine whether it would survive or not.

Another expert, Captain Gary Hudson, also admonished pilots to consider go-rounds whenever they noticed problems at the point of landing, as such decisions could end up saving many lives.
Captain David Campbell, another of the experts, admonished pilots on how to handle landing on wet and slippery runways with minimal risk.

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Armed Bandits Attacked Police Station For Sophisticated Weapons

In the middle of its election fever, tension gripped Kano City Nigeria yesterday as a gang of armed bandits, attacked the Sharada Divisional Police Station of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), killing at least two officers in an ensuing gun duel, while leaving another officer in a critical condition at the Murtala Mohammed Hospital in the state.

The affected officers include an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and an Inspector, both of whom were confirmed killed in the duel, while the other officer is a corporal, whose stomach was ripped apart with a local knife by the gang.

The bandits, suspected to made up of about 25 persons, attacked the station, sited in one of the industrial locations in the state, at about 4 a.m in the morning, while pretending to be religious mullahs, chanting prayers and incantations. They were said to have besieged the station from three different intersecting directions before converging on the police station and opened fire.

Although the motive of this crime could not be ascertained, it was, however, speculated that they may be persons, who had their eyes on stealing the police arms as it was reliably gathered that they made away with large number of arms and ammunition after the few remaining officers had fled for the safety of their lives, when it became obvious that the police had been overpowered by the gang.

While the gang that attacked the police men came with locally made pistols, they made away with sophisticated weapons which, had great implications for the security of the state, more so as the election dates are just around the corner.

About 24 hours earlier, four officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) were shot dead by a gang of suspected armed robbers at their duty post, a few kilometers from the scene of the present attack.

At the Bompai Police headquarters, top police officers in the state including the command’s spokesman, DSP Baba Mohammed, held a crucial meeting, which might not be unconnected with the killing of their officers and the new wave of crime in the state. So far, the command has not made any official comment.

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Soviet-Style Controls Being Extended To Online News

President Vladimir Putin has already brought Russian newspapers and television to heel. Now he's turning his attention to the Internet.

As the Kremlin gears up for the election of Putin's successor next March, Soviet-style controls are being extended to online news after a presidential decree last month set up a new agency to supervise both mass media and the Web.

``It's worrying that this happened ahead of the presidential campaign,'' Roman Bodanin, political editor of Gazeta.ru, Russia's most prominent online news site, said in a telephone interview. ``The Internet is the freest medium of communication today because TV is almost totally under government control, and print media largely so.''

All three national TV stations are state-controlled, and the state gas monopoly, OAO Gazprom, has been taking over major newspapers; self-censorship is routine. That has left the Internet as the main remaining platform for political debate, and Web sites that test the boundaries of free speech are already coming under pressure.

In December, a court in the Siberian region of Khakassia shut down the Internet news site Novy Fokus for not registering as a media outlet. The site, known for its critical reporting, reopened in late March after it agreed to register and accept stricter supervision.

Plug Pulled

Anticompromat.ru, which wrote about Putin's pre-presidential business interests, had to find a U.S. Web server after a Russian service provider pulled the plug March 28, saying it had been warned by officials to stop hosting the site.

Last year, the authorities shut down a Web site called Kursiv in the city of Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, that lampooned Putin as a ``phallic symbol of Russia'' for his drive to boost the birthrate.

Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia isn't restricting media freedom and that the new agency isn't aimed at policing the Web.

``If you watch TV, even federal TV channels, you'll hear lots of criticism of the government,'' Peskov said in an interview. ``This new agency will be in charge of licensing. It's not about controlling the Internet.''

Putin, 54, isn't allowed to run for re-election in 2008 under Russia's two-term constitutional limit. Instead, he is promoting two potential successors: First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a 41-year-old lawyer, and Sergei Ivanov, 54, a KGB colleague of Putin who oversees much of Russian industry, including transport and nuclear power. The two, who both come from Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, have become fixtures on state-controlled television.

Gorbachev's Complaint

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose policy of glasnost, or openness, ushered in media freedom in the late 1980s after decades of Soviet censorship, has condemned the state propaganda on the airwaves.

``The one thing I can say is that it's pointless today to watch television,'' Gorbachev, 76, said on the 20th anniversary of the launch of ``perestroika,'' his drive to allow more political and economic freedom that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While most Russians rely on television for news, increasing numbers are turning to the Internet. Around a quarter of the adult population -- 28 million people -- are regular Internet users, according to the Public Opinion Foundation, a Moscow-based research organization. In 2002, only 8 percent fell into that category.

A Mass Medium

``When the Internet becomes more of a mass medium, then governments start getting worried, and they start treating it like the mass media,'' said Esther Dyson, who helped establish the Internet's system of domain names and addresses, and has consulted extensively in Russia.

``You can't control the Internet, but you can control people,'' she said in a telephone interview during a visit to Moscow.

Oleg Panfilov, head of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations in Moscow, predicted in a telephone interview that ``pressure on the media is going to worsen'' as the presidential succession draws nearer.

Reporters who write critically about government policies are subjected to intimidation, arrests, attacks and other forms of pressure, the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights said March 27 in its annual report.

Facing Prison

Viktor Shmakov, editor of the newspaper Provintsialny Vesti in the oil-rich Bashkortostan republic, is facing up to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors charged him with inciting mass disturbances after his weekly urged readers to attend an opposition rally last year.

Russia is the second most dangerous country for journalists after Iraq, with 88 killed in the past 10 years, according to the Brussels-based International News Safety Institute.

Last October, Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent reporter and Kremlin critic who uncovered human-rights abuses by security forces in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in Moscow.

A journalist for the Kommersant daily, Ivan Safronov, who was investigating Russian weapons sales to Iran and Syria, fell to his death from a window in his Moscow apartment March 2.

The government, meanwhile, has been expanding Gazprom's media role. The company already took control of independent channel NTV in 2001 and bought long-established Russian daily Izvestia in 2005.

Last year, Kommersant, once owned by tycoon and exiled Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky, was sold to Alisher Usmanov, a steel magnate who is head of a Gazprom subsidiary. And Gazprom said in November it will acquire Russia's biggest-selling daily, Komsomolskaya Pravda, which has a circulation of 800,000.

Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the Web site that lost its Russian server after mocking Putin, said the Web crackdown is part of the final phase of a campaign to stifle free speech.

``Thank God the Internet is difficult to close down, but I think they will go after journalists who write things they don't like,'' he said.

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Why EU Will Protect Internet Use In Workplaces

A Welsh university employee has successfully sued the UK government in the European Court of Human Rights over surveillance that was conducted while the woman was an employee at Carmarthenshire College. According to the complaint, the woman's e-mail, phone, Internet, and fax usage were all monitored by the Deputy Principal (DP) of the college, who appears to have taken a sharp dislike to her. According to the complaint, the DP believed that the woman was using college facilities for personal use too often, and began collecting evidence about her activity. The woman claimed that her human rights were being abused, and pointed specifically to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which governs private and family life.

The woman alleged that the DP began a campaign back in 1999 to discredit her. This campaign involved phone calls to numbers that the applicant had called in an attempt to find out who she had been speaking with, and apparently extended even to reading faxes that she sent to her solicitors from the office.

The case was made tricky by the fact that England lacked two things in 1999: a privacy law and a law governing employers' rights in monitoring their own employees. Because England had no general right to privacy enshrined in the law, the judges might seem to favor the government; but because employers had no law that gave them rights to monitor their workers, Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights became important. That article says that "everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence."

The government argued that the surveillance had been legitimate because it only involved the monitoring of the woman's communications, not the interception of them. That is, phone numbers were retrieved from telephone bills sent to the college, and the IT department logged e-mail addresses and web sites visited, but the contents of the phone calls and the e-mails were not recorded. Further, the government argued that it was pursuing "the legitimate aim of protecting the rights and freedoms of others by ensuring that the facilities provided by a publicly funded employer were not abused."

The court disagreed in a judgment handed down last week. According to its own case law, "telephone calls from business premises are prima facie covered by the notions of 'private life' and 'correspondence' for the purposes of Article 8." Because the woman had not been warned that she might be monitored at work, she had a "reasonable expectation as to the privacy of calls made from her work telephone." Internet usage received the same protection. In 2000, the UK did pass legislation that gave businesses certain rights with which they could monitor the e-mail and phone usage of their employees, but the law had not come into force when the surveillance in question took place.

The ruling may set only a limited precedent, however, since the legal situation in the UK has since changed. The ruling does suggest that all European employers need to make their employees aware of any monitoring that is taking place, but it sets no rules against monitoring in general.

The court granted the woman €3,000 for the "stress, anxiety, low mood and inability to sleep" that she complained about, but it granted her only €6,000 for legal fees. The woman claimed that her total legal bills amounted to nearly €14,000, so she made no money on the case, though her vindication will certainly come as a relief. The court also noted that the DP of the college has since been suspended, but the woman continues to work there.

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5 Months Old And 18 Months Old Die In House Fire

Lilieth Knight would love nothing more than to wave a magic wand and erase the tragic and traumatic events that befell her on Friday evening. But this morning, she still has no choice but to accept the fact that her two infant grandchildren were burned alive in her home at 219 Spanish Town Road in Kingston.

Even more depressing for Knight is the fact that her daughter - the children's mother who Knight told the Sunday Observer was 17 years old - was blamed for the deaths and taken into police custody after the blaze was brought under control.

"That's all me lose. Not the fridge, not the TV, my two grandpickney dem. Mi two pretty grandpickney dem," Knight said as she took the Sunday Observer through the torched remains of her home.

Knight told the Sunday Observer that she was not at her home - a small tenement neatly tucked away between two other houses on an area of land - when the incident took place, but arrived to see the house ablaze.

"When I reached the top (Spanish Town Road) I saw smoke coming out from in the area. When I came round the lane I saw the big fire," she explained. "Not one of the baby them, not even one I could have saved," she wailed.
Residents were not able to say what caused the blaze, but speculated that a candle may have overturned in the house. The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) reported that at approximately 7:45 pm 18-month old Retania Powell and her five-month old sister Shanique Brown were left in the house by their mother, who went to a nearby shop. On the mother's return, however, the house was seen engulfed in flames.

The Fire Brigade was summoned and a unit each from the Trench Town and York Park Fire Departments was dispatched to the location. The two units successfully extinguished the blaze.
As the charred remains of the house were searched, the burnt bodies of the infants were discovered.

The Sunday Observer was unable to find out from the Hunts Bay Police, who are investigating, whether the teen mother was charged with an offence.
Knight, however told the newspaper that she received a call from the police telling her to carry clothes and toiletries for her daughter as they were taking her to a location in Duhaney Park.

If investigations prove that Knight's daughter is to be blamed for the death of the children then legal action can be taken against her under section nine of the Child Care and Protection Act, and section 28 of the Offences Against the Person Act, which allow for parents or guardians who leave their children in circumstances that endanger their lives and health to be charged for abandonment or cruelty to a child.

Friday's deaths bring to at least five the number infants who have been killed in fires this year after allegedly being left by their parents/guardians. On New Year's Day, two year-old Nikalia Nelson of 7 Newton Street, Falmouth, Trelawny died after a fire caused by an electric short circuit gutted her home. She was allegedly left unattended in a room by her 19 year-old aunt.
On New Year's Eve, four year-old Lamar Bennett and his two-year old sister Serena Brown died when fire destroyed their home in Frome, Westmoreland. The two had allegedly been abandoned by their mother.

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Will Lisa Ann Taylor Lose Mansion And Vehicle?

Valerie Hoff

Accused 'Mansion Madam' Lisa Taylor has been living in her Sugarloaf Country Club home since her arrest in January, but she could lose that home.

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter is asking a judge to order Taylor to forfeit the home, along with a 1989 Corvette and $3,700 in cash police seized during her January arrest.

"The complaint alleges they were maintained and operated through ill-gotten gains, money from criminal activity," said Porter.

Taylor is accused of running a house of prostitution.

But she and her attorneys maintain she's an adult entertainer and her activities such as dancing and adult videos were legal.

"The vehicle has a long standing history with Miss Taylor, as does the house and the money," said defense attorney Mark Issa. "We believe it’s not fair at all to take someone's home and vehicle and money prior to being convicted of a crime and we think it goes against the principals of the Constitution."

Taylor is charged under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. It was enacted in the 1970's to fight organized crime, and contains stiff penalties and forfeiture provisions for those who commit a series of illegal acts to further a criminal enterprise.

As the civil forfeiture case gets underway, Porter said the criminal process is slightly behind schedule because of the vast amount of computer data seized from Taylor's home.

"There was a lot of stuff on the hard drive, a lot of information and to go through it is taking longer than we expected," said Porter.

As they wait for their cases to go to the Grand Jury, Taylor and her alleged accomplice Nicole Probert are working as dancers at a DeKalb County adult entertainment venue called the Oasis.

Porter said he will likely present the case to the grand jury before summer. He said he does not anticipate making any more arrests before that time.

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AFI Dallas International Film Festival Showcases Newbies

Mike Jones

Four hours north from the Whole Earthy shops that sell "Keep Austin Weird" merchandise, an upscale Dallas thread shop displays, for twice the price, their own T-shirt: "Keep Dallas Pretentious." And with no apologies, the AFI Dallas International Film Festival began as founder Liener Temerlin, an unabashed "old ad man," stated that Dallas "may now hold the world record in size, films, venues, and sponsors for an inaugural film festival." Though the birth of yet another new film festival shouldn't make much of a ripple, Temerlin and company might have started a new franchising trend. Licensing the AFI brand for a festival was probably akin to attaching stars to a script -- it brought in a laundry list of big blue chip sponsors.

Artistic Director Michael Cain, previously of the Deep Ellum Film Festival, and his team built a program heavy on Texas-born talent, AFI alum (David Lynch's "Inland Empire"), and suggestions from AFI Los Angeles' Christian Gaines ("Drama/Mex" and "Screamers"). Opening the fest with Dallas-native Steve Sawalich's "Music Within" was the safe choice. Starring Ron Livingston as a deaf Vietnam vet fighting for the disabled Americans' rights, the film rides the middle of the road well, though breaks no ground.

Fellow Dallasite Amy Talkington's light, cheery romp, "Night of the White Pants," turned a circus mirror onto the furs and boots in the audience. Shot locally, it stars Tom Wilkerson as an ex-millionaire Dallas dealmaker battling lawyers, greedy ex-wives, spoiled children, and his own spoiled past. Wilkerson threw himself into the North Texas drawl with both feet and fists, but within all his character's good ole boy ego, Wilkerson's hound-dog eyes keep his performance refreshingly grounded. The audience ate it up, as they'll do with Talkington's next target: Dallas debutantes.

Narrative competition films included a few imports from Sundance 2007 including Steve Berra's "The Good Life" and Martin Hynes' "The Go-Getter," a lost-in-America story that, despite genuine moments of young love between the illuminant Zooey Deschanel and Lou Taylor Pucci, manages to lose its way mid-story.
Crowds inside the Majestic Theater in Dallas attending the inaugural festival. For more photos, check out the festival's Flickr photo site. Image courtesy of the festival

Among the docs, Joel P. Engardio and Tom Shepard's "Knocking," put the audience inside the homes of Jehovah's Witnesses, for a change. In its best moments the journalists follow a Witness family into a "bloodless" liver transplant. Witnesses don't believe in using another's blood, or even a stored bag of their own, during surgery. Most even carry a card instructing caregivers "no blood." When a father decides to donate a portion of his liver to his ailing son, the family searches far and wide for a hospital that will do a transfusion-less transplant. They find it at USC who, in exchange, want to use the surgery to test new procedures that will reduce the need for donor blood. Using that as a jumping off point, the filmmakers continue to outline Jehovah Witness history, including their imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps and their victories in litigating for free speech in the US and abroad.

Other noteworthy docs included University of Texas professor Andrew Garrison's "Third Ward, TX," named after a Houston neighborhood where a group of African-American artists took over a block of abandoned homes just before their leveling. After creating unique artist spaces, parks, and much-needed low-income housing, the group then faced the result of their success: gentrification and myopic real estate development. In the aptly titled "A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar," filmmaker Eric Chaikin follows six people striving to become among the measly 39% that pass the California bar exam, including one unlucky subject who's failed it 41 times.

While potshots at Dallas pretension are easy, it's as useless as shooting barrel fish. Dallas doesn't care what you think. They like their art and they like to pay for it. The Dallas Contemporary, The Nasher, and neighboring Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth are all well funded and arguably premiere destinations for modern art in the Midwest. And while Variety reported the fest's pricetag at $4 million, much of that money seemed spent on the filmmakers: from the first class airfare to the swank W Hotel rooms, complete with a 3-bottle gift of fine wine in a fancy Target-designed box (just one item among the avalanche of swag). And when Dallasites show up to see David Lynch present his three-hour, interior-view of Laura Dern's head, they do it in their Neiman Marcus best, they stay through the whole thing, and they applaud when it's over. There is pretension here, and there is also class.

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Beijing Police Cracks Down On Prostitution, Gambling.....In Bathhouses.

People who stay at public bathhouses will have to check in with their identity cards under new rules designed to regulate the industry.

The Beijing News on Saturday reported police will detain bathhouse operators who admit clients who refuse to check in with their identity cards.

The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, local Bureau of Commerce, Administration for Industry and Commerce, and Health Bureau held a meeting on Friday to discuss how to regulate the public bathhouse and hotel industry.

Beijing currently has around 1,116 public bathhouses and around 700 offer lodging. They have become a haven for criminals because most bathhouses do not register their guests' ID cards. During the first ten months of 2006, police detained 920 people at 503 bathhouses for involvement in prostitution and gambling.

Local police authorities say a lot of public bathhouses run a diverse range of services outside their scope of operation, like massage, catering, performances and lodging.

The newspaper says bathhouses will have to go through licensing and registration procedures at the local administrations, including the public security bureau and the Administration for Industry and Commerce, by the end of May if they wish to offer accommodation. All bathhouses that offer lodging will be investigated in the first three weeks of June.

Public bathhouses will also be required to install closed-circuit TV surveillance systems in public areas and operators will be detained if they fail to check their guests' ID cards. Bathhouse employees will have to report any clients' who refuse to show their ID cards or who use fake ID cards to the police immediately.

Bathhouses that don't provide accommodation will not be allowed to operate between 2 am and 8 am. Violators will be fined between 1,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan.

Any bathhouses involved in prostitution, gambling or drug taking will have their licenses withdrawn.

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